Holiday part Deux:Family Edition
by athyrarose
Summary: Cricket returns to the land of Middle Earth...and this time her family has been dragged along with her. New allies and enemies arise, and she has to try and protect her family, extended included, from those that might tear them apart, while at the same time figuring out what being Conners bondmate actually means for her. Will she be able to stay this time, or get torn away again?
1. Begin again

Memory can be a strange thing. A good memory can make you smile, while a bad one can brings tears of sadness and pain to your eyes. However, on the flip side of the coin, good memories can make you cry as well, tears of joy and happiness. You can lose your memory completely, as well as regain it. Your memories can come back in the form of dreams, sometimes making you think that's all they are. Memory can be the key to a persons salvation, or utter destruction, depending on the circumstances. Memory can be a persons complete undoing, depending on how it's used. Memory isn't always your friend, though it is a very subtle enemy.

Dreams are, as memories are, strange as well. They have rules that can't be governed by man nor beast, though with practice one can control certain aspects of them. You cannot dream of a person you have never seen, though as long as you have seen at least an image of them you can. You can get so frightened in a dream you can wake yourself up, or become so aroused that your body reacts accordingly. Dreams can remind you of things long forgotten, but be easily dismissed.

Cricket was a woman once upon a time plagued bu memories disguised as dreams, and extremely vivid dreams at that. They were dreams that stopped after a couple of long months, but she still remembered them from time to time, of a place she couldn't possibly have been, filled by people she would have loved to actually have known. And though most of the time she was certain they were just fantasies her subconscious created to fill her thoughts at night, there was one thing in her life that occasionally made her doubt, as strange as it might sound.

You see, the day the so called dreams had started, she had woken up in a hospital room...after passing out from loss of blood after a miscarriage. The other strange part of that was that she couldn't for the life of her remember the last time she had been with anyone, except for once in the dreams that started in that hospital room.

That particular dream had just felt so real..she could still feel his beard against her skin, the taste of his lips, and the irritation of it all when he passed out in a drunken stupor immediately afterwards.

Her mother, the one person she had told about the dream, had insisted it was her brain most likely trying to cover up a traumatic moment, since she otherwise couldn't remember the moment that the child she had lost had been conceived. Cricket wasn't so sure, and her mother finally dropped the topic after she broke down sobbing, so upset she couldn't remember when it happened, or who with, so she could at least share the burden with the one other person responsible for the child's creation, whether they cared or not.

She didn't tell her mother about any more of her dreams after that. Likewise, she didn't tell her that she had a binder filled with drawings of the various people from her dreams, as it seemed silly to want to keep visual proof of someone that wasn't real, yet she felt so attached to. She had had fantasy like dreams before, but the people were so much more fully fleshed than usual, that was what truly struck her as odd. That, and the intense feelings she had for a couple of them, more so than the others by a landslide, though she had good feelings about all of them.

Most of them.

Now, a year and a half after the miscarriage and initial start of the dreams, she still kept the binder next to the couch, every once in a while opening it up and looking through it, having finally named all the faces she had drawn. The dreams had finally stopped, but the pictures helped her remember.

She wanted to remember.  
********************

Crickets mom was in town for the week with her nephew and step dad, partly for vacation, partly to celebrate Crickets birthday at the end of the week. She had taken great care to clean up her apartment, moving all the sharp pointy objects out of reach of the visiting 5 year old, switching her keyboard and mouse to wireless to no one tripped over the cords that usually stretched across the living room floor, and taking the binder full of drawings and moving it to the table next to her bed. Her sister had moved out 6 months ago, so she made sure the spare room was dusted and made up as well.

They were on their way to pick her up for dinner at Texas Roadhouse, so she was sitting on the couch, waiting on a text saying they were downstairs. Tapping her her foot gently against the floor, feeling antsy for some reason, she concentrated on the game in front of her. She had just gotten Majoras Mask for the 3DS, and was trying with no success to get the last stray fairy from the Snow Temple. They had changed one or two locations when switching from N64 to 3DS, and every time she jumped for the last stupid one she would just barely miss it and fall all the way back down to the bottom level. She smiles to herself as it reminds her of one of the dreams, where she had leaped off of a ledge into a barrel moving down a fast paced river, only she had made that particular jump.

There's a chime of 'Hey Chicka Bum Bum' from her phone, her notification ringtone from Red vs Blue, down next to her. Looking over she pauses the game and closes it, picking up her phone and unlocking it with a swipe.

*Hey Honey, we're here.*

Grinning she locks it back and sticks it down in a pocket on the inside of her boot, her wallet being in the other. She plugs her 3DS in the wall and turns out the living room light as she opens up the door, locking it behind her as she proceeds down the stairs, still feeling a bit strange. She frowns as she makes it down, the sound of thunder echoing around her, and she doesn't remember seeing storms on the forecast for tonight, yet the skiys were clouding over.

The thought immediately leaves though, as she opens the door to the smiling child in the back, super excited to see her.

"We're going to a resternaut! We're gonna eat lots of food! Are you coming with us? I missed you!"He asks in that speedy way only small children can somehow manage.

"I missed you too kiddo, though you did just see me earlier today."She says with a laugh."And yes, of course I'm going with you, I picked the place out!"She climbs into the back of the dual cab truck and buckles up, glancing over at his own 3DS in his hands and the small collection of games he brought as they pull away."You've got quite a good collection there, what's your favorite right now?"

"Ummm Lego avengers."He says, opening it back up to play, little face screwed up in concentration."I like smashing things with the hulk."

"He has a pair of hulk hands he does the same thing with."Her mother says, chuckling.

"Last week the little booger hid in the pantry with them, snacking on a can of pringles while waiting for your mom to come in to make dinner. When she opened it he jumped out and yelled."Her stepdad says while her mother blushes a deep red."Your mom dropped the angel hair pasta all over the floor she got so spooked."

"Donald!"Her mother yelled, smacking him on the shoulder while he laughs."Stop telling people that!"

"Oh, it's not like she's going to tell anyone."

"It's embarrassing!"

Cricket shakes her head as they banter back and forth, frowning as she looks out the window, a sense of deja vu washing over her as she looks out at the darkening sky.  
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Meanwhile, in another place, another world, far from where Cricket is now, a group of horses exit a lush forest, looking over the edge of a small lake. The group consists of 4 elves, a taller than normal dwarf, and a small child who looked to be about 6 years old human time riding with the dwarf.

Not that he was actually human.

The dwarf and child had just finished 3 months worth of studying and training at the palace of the elf king, and were now being escorted back to the mountain they currently called home by the elf prince and their honor guards. They were to meet up halfway with a regiment of dwarves outside of Dale, who would escort all of them the rest of the way to Erebor.

"Your lessons went very well this time around titta mine."Legolas says to the child as they start their way around the lake."Your shadow hopping is getting impressive in both forms, and you've nearly mastered your chameleon technique."

"Thank you Legolas."The child Conner says with a slight blush."It's harder in this form, but Mister Dwalin thinks that it's smart learning to do it in both forms in case I'm in danger."

"And he's right to think so."

"Don't let him hear that."Kili jokes from in front of Conner, glancing over at the elf prince with a smirk."You'll never hear the end of it."

"Believe me, if there was any chance he would have been able to hear me say it, it would never pass from my lips. As for you mellon nin, I believe you are now the equal of any elf when it comes to the bow. How is your new lady treating you?"

"Unfortunately that still isn't a trait smiled upon back home."Kili grumbles, but smiles a bit at the thought of the bow the elf smiths made specifically for him once they finally believed him to be worthy of having one. Most of his kin might not approve, but at this point he really didn't care, having gone back and forth between the two races enough now to not feel the old prejudices himself at all."She is everything I could ever want in a bow. Thank you for seeing to my training all this time."

"Well, despite your lack of formal training before we started you still had quite a bit of raw talent. We merely needed to fine tune it a bit. Unfortunately, now we need to find something else for you to learn while Conner goes through his training, since the bit of bond didn't pass any magic traits to you."

"Maybe we could practice more with flying?"Conner asks mischievously."I'm much better at disguising myself now."

"Yes, but you still need to learn to disguise another person while doing the same to yourself, otherwise it will look like your rider is floating in midair. That might draw some attention if it was seen by anyone other than an elf."

"And even then, I'm pretty sure Thrandiul didn't appreciate the sight of me looking into his study while you were disguised."Kili says with a grin."After that scolding he wouldn't speak to me for a week. I'm pretty sure he's the reason wine made me sick the rest of that visit as well."

"I wouldn't doubt it."Legolas says, agreeing with the friendly dwarf, and even the rest of their guard crack smiles, having gotten quite fond of the two outsiders from their many visits."However, until you can master that particular talent we better stay away from flying with a rider unless absolutely nessacary, I'm sorry. If Cricket was the one riding you the bond would automatically hide her as well, but..."

"I know. She's not here."Conner says forlornly, head drooping down low."I shouldn't have brought it up."

Legolas and Kili share a worried look at the sound of the depressed Conner."He didn't mean anything Conner, we know you miss her. We do too. Believe me, she would be here if she could be." Kili says, squeezing Conners hand and feeling the childs head lay against his back.

Conner adjusts the floppy hat on his head of curls so he can see ahead him."I know. I just wonder if she misses me...or even remembers me."

"I know she does."Legolas says reassuringly."She loved you as much as she would her own child, anyone could see that. You don't forget that kind of love."

Conner doesn't say anything for a while after that, merely staring at the lake as they ride around it. Finally, after a coupe of minutes,"Do you think your Amad will make us cookies when we ge back?"

"Please, you give her one sad look with those big blues of yours and she'll definitely make you some."Kili says with a laugh, glad the childs mind is off sadder things."At this point you're the closest thing to grandchildren she has, so there isn't much of a chance she can say no to anything when it comes to you. Hell, she threatened to demasculate one of the warriors from the iron hills for calling you an elf-loving runt before we left."

"Demasculate?"

"Umm...chop off his weenie."Kili says, catching himself before he says something he shouldn't.

"Oh."

The rest of the groups silently laughs at that as the mountain slowly looms closer, the sound of thunder in the distance as the sky darkens.  
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A scout runs up to Dwalin and salutes the commander and battle teacher smartly as he sits on his perch overlooking the lake, not far from the rebuilt city of Dale.

"Sir!"

"Eh, what is it?"

"A storm seems to be heading over us as we speak, sir, stretching far across to the elf woods. No sign of rain yet, but the winds have started picking up and it shouldn't be long now."

Dwalin glares at him, most of what the scout having told him completely obvious to anyone with half a brain and working eyes."Anything else?"

"There seems to be a couple of small orc groups roaming around. We have found evidence of them waylaying travelers to and from Dale, as well as an orc shaft with a bit of dried blood on it still. No signs of prisoners yet."

"They're gettin more ambitious."Dwalin says with a scowl.

"Should we go to Dale until the storm passes, tell them of the orcs?"

"And miss the prince coming through? Don't be daft."He says with annoyance, looking around until he spots what he's looking for."You, take another with you and go on to Dale, let them know what you just told me. The rest of us will move up to the caves ahead of us and wait for the prince. Maybe if we're lucky we'll catch those orc bastards." The last part is said with a feral grin, his hand tightening around the long handled hammer he carried everywhere with him, in memory of a lost pupil and friend."Understood?"

"I..yes sir."The scout says a bit huffily, running off to find a comrade to travel with him to Dale. After issuing orders to the rest of the regiment with him, Dwalin looks back to the sky, feeling the electricity in the air as he wishes the stupid elves would get the lads here faster, remembering a night not unlike this three years ago...  
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In the mountain they couldn't see the sky darkening, but they could still hear the thunder making the mountain rumble, even down in the throne roome, where Thorin was currently finishing up a session with some of the local lords arguing about whatever grievance they had this time, something about one of the lesser sons insulting the higher sons of the others, and them demanding an apology.

Thorin catches his sisters eye from the side of the room where she is lounging and she rolls her eyes at the stupidity of the lords, then gestures for him to look over next to him with a nod of her head. Cocking his head in confusion, he glances over to see Fili asleep next to him, hands covering his face but gently snoring, about to pitch forward.

Snorting to himself he elbows Fili in the side, causing him to start and sit straight up in his seat. Shaking his head in exasperation, Thorin looks back to the argument and decides that he's had enough of their bickering."Quiet!"He yells, and everyone stops to look at him, murder in some of their eyes."You, son of Bolif. What was it you said to them to get them so riled up?"

The dwarf lad with the surprisingly blonde head of hair and trimmed, braided beard steps forward, head high and defiant."I told them they better practice more, because the couldn't hit me with a sword if I was painted bright red and naked with both hands tied behind my back, much less if I had one in my hand as well. They took insult to that."

Dis sniggers at that, and Thorin has to stop himself from smiling as well at the boys declaration."Is it true? The sword part, not the naked part. Do you believe you could beat them all in one on one sessions?"

The boy Olif smiles."Oh yes sire."

"What does that matter..."

"He insulted our family!"

"We want justice!"

"Enough!"Thorin roars once more, and they all sulk."When Dwalin gets back, he will oversee sparring sessions with all of you in one on one battles. If you beat him, he owes you apologies. However, if you beat him, the matter is forgotten as he lived up to his claims. Either way the loser or losers will have extra training sessions with Dwalin."They look to argue with him, but he feels his sister step up next to him, and at the twin glares of the royal siblings they falter, nodding in agreement."Now go, that's enough for today."

As they leave the only one who looks happy with the decision is Olif, and before the doors close completely Thorin whispers for one of his hardier spies to keep an eye on the boy in case the protesters try and take their frustrations out on him.

"Nicely done brother."Dis says as she walks around to face him, arms crossed and smirk back."Though I must say, you seems out of sorts today."There's a smacking sound as she lightly hits her son upside the head."And you! You know better than to fall asleep when you're watching your Uncle make rulings! What kind of example does it set for those who are supposed to see you as the next king?"

"Ow! I'm sorry Amad, I couldn't help it! Their constant arguing was so boring, and I didn't sleep too well last night."Fili says trying to gain sympathy as he rubs the back of his head tenderly."Every time I was close to it I would remember Conner and Fee were coming home today and get excited. I'm ready for my brother and the little lightning bolt to be home."

"I feel the same way."Dis says with a soft smile usually saved for her children when they weren't acting like heathens, though it was evident after a couple of days that Conner had warmed his way into her heart the same way."I've gotten quite used to having a little one around again, and he reminds me so much of you and your brother at that age, even if he isn't one of us. But that doesn't stop you from needing to show face like the heir you are."

"Yes Amad, I'll try harder next time they bore me to death. After all, if Uncle can do it, so can I."Thorin merely glares at him for the jest, but doesn't at all dispute it.

There is an echo of thunder through the mountain once more and the three of them all look up worriedly."Hopefully they can make it back before this storm gets too bad."Dis says, idly messing with thick locks of hair had came undone from her braid. Thorin nods in agreement, glancing down at the ring on his finger holding a small shard of the arkenstone that helps him remember what he had became once upon a time.

"Come. Lets go up to the balcony and see if we can spot them coming."He finally says, walking ahead without looking back to see if they follow, he just knows they will.  
**********************

Meanwhile, far across the land in a plush home under the ground, a Hobbit named Bilbo tucks in a much tinier hobbit lad into bed, taken into his care 2 months ago when his parents died. It was an easy decision to make, as the child was his family anyway, and much better left with him then the horrible Sacksville-Bagginses.

As thunder echos loudly through the land, little Frodo whimpers in his sleep, and Bilbo moves to comfort him, rubbing his back until the whimpering stops, the ring in his side pocket a strange comfort too him as he feels its weight bump up against him. He stares out the small window, face etched in worry.  
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It was the same all across the land, as the storm no one expected rolled across, causing to sky to go dark as various eyes turn towards it. Dale, Erebor, Rivendale, Mirkwood, Hobbiton, Gondor, all of them felt two things as they stared it down. One, that the storm made them very uneasy. And two?

That the storm wasn't the only thing coming.  
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"Honey, what happened to that nice man you were dating, the toymaker?"

Cricket sighs, not wanting to have this conversation as she messes with a spot behind her ear that kept flaring up in pain, weirdly in a very small spot about the size of a dime."Bo, mom, his name was Bo. And he ended up having to go back home."

"Right, that's him. Why did he have to leave like that? You seemed so fond of him."

"Turns out his ex-wife wasn't as much of an ex as he thought."She says glumly as they pull into the parking lot."She had conveniently forgotten to sign the divorce papers, and when he flew over to make sure she signed this time, she cried and begged for him to take her back, to give her another chance. He called and said it wasn't fair to me to stay with him while he figured things out, and broke things off."

"Sounds like a real charmer."Her step dad says with a scowl as he parks.

"He was."

"You'll find the right man someday, just have to be patient. Hell, look how long it took your mom and I to find each other!"He says, grabbing her moms hand and smiling broadly."We just had to hit a couple of potholes in the road first."

"At this point I'd be better off waiting for a mad man in a box."She says with a snort, making sure she has everything before stepping out of the truck, instantly buffeted by rough winds. Looking up at the sky and the faster moving clouds she grabs Jaces hand and slams the door, running with him to a pavilion halfway to the restaurant to wait for the other two to get out.

"Are we gonna get blowd away?"Jace asks, half excited and half worried as he tightly grips her hand.

"She looks down at him and gives a short grin to reassure him."Just don't let go and we won't find out, ok?"

"Right!"

Ray and her mom finally make it to them, both looking at the sky in worry and alarm."Where did this stupid storm come from, anyway? It called for clear skys all day."

"You know the weather mans about as trustworthy as a stray cat."Cricket says as she grips her nephews hand tightly, a bolt of lightning striking next to them."We're probably lucky there isn't hail."

"Well, I don't like it. Maybe we should try again tomorrow?"

Another echos thunders through, and Cricket starts to feel strange again, as if she's being pulled in two. Suddenly a bolt of lightning strikes the pavilion, as well as the tree next to it, causing the tree to crack and fall down upon the pavilion. there are screams and yells all around her as she grabs her nephew and keeps him close to her to hide him from the worst of the damage as the tree crashes down, and the last thing she sees before she blacks out is a bright light encompassing them all right before it hits.

*  
It's time to come home.

 _ **Amad-Mother**_

 _ **Titta mine-little one**_

 _ **mellon nin-my friend**_

 _ **Soo it's time to start again...I couldn't stay away for too long it seems. Hope you like this next chapter of her story, considering most of it will be all out of my head lol. Let me know what you think, and see ya next time!**_


	2. Welcome to Oz!

**So, if you haven't read the first part of this story, I suggest scooting on over to catch up on events that skew from the original. Or don't, you might not end up that confused.**

Throughout the entirety of the Middle-Earth the storm raged, winds strong enough in some places to knock over trees, thunder echoing loud enough to wake the heaviest of sleepers from their rest, the electricity in the air making anyone who was close enough to metal feel thier arm hairs stand straight up on end. However, despite the strength of the storm, the strangest part of it was that, to anyone who bothered to pay attention, there was a complete lack of lightning almost the entire time that it raged. To anyone who was superstitious, or who believed storms preluded events both good and bad, it was watched very closely. Two brothers in particular remembered a night much like this years ago, when a woman dear to both of their hearts first arrived in the land, scared and unsure of herself, and watched it with great interest.

Unfortunately, when the only lightning of the storm finally struck, the five bolts all converging into one spot in a bright burst of explosive light on a cliff not far from Erebor and Dale, the nearby dwarf regiment wasn't the only group to move to investigate.

No, two small bands of orcs set off towards it as well, one of them slightly closer than the dwarves and with blood already drying on their blades.  
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Cricket woke to the feeling of hard ground beneath her, her head slightly aching with pain from the knock it had taken before she had blacked out. Slowly letting her eyes creep open she blinks a bit, letting her eyes adjust to not being in the dark anymore, she's relieved to find that wherever she is, it's dimly lit. Forcing herself to sit up she looks around, trying to get a fix on her surroundings. Quite cloudy, which explained the dim lighting, she saw that she was on a rocky clifftop, surrounded by rolling hills that looked like they might have one time been perfect for an orchard, if the ground had been more fertile. It was also a bit familiar, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why that was.

"Mama mama look, she's awake!"Comes a familiar voice from behind her, and turning towards it she sees Jace, Donald and her mom walking quickly towards her, all wet and a bit dirty from the ground, Donald sporting a nasty gash on his forehead, most likely from the tree that fell on them all before she blacked out. Jace gets away and runs over to her, hugging her around the neck tightly.

"See, we did get blowd away!"He says excitedly, giving her a smile when he lets go."You were just so so asleep, mama didn't think you would ever wake up! Are you ok now?"

"I..I think so."She says finally, letting Donald help her up and groaning as her muscles protest at the movement, brushing the dirt from herself the best she can then glancing worriedly at the two other adults."Ummm...did we really get blown away? Because if we're in Oz I don't know how I'm going to react. Also, there isn't anything that looks like this back home, this looks like it was all burnt to the ground a long time ago, and never had the chance to grow back up."

"I highly doubt we're in Oz, but if you see any munchkins let me know."Donald says with a weak smile while her mom tries to wipe a small amount of dirt off of Jaces face."Problem is, unless we were drugged and stayed asleep the entire trip here, where ever here is, I really can't figure out what might've happened. We took a short look around, but your mom didn't want to leave you too far behind so we turned right back around. I've been trying to keep her calm since she woke up. but it hasn't been easy."The last part her mumbles softly to Cricket, and she nods in sympathy, noticing he had found a large sturdy branch somewhere and had it gripped in his fist.

"Yea, she's not good with surprises, and this is one hell of one."She mutters back, then happens to take a look down at the ground she woke up on, scorched still from the lightning strikes."Have you tried to call anyone yet?"She asks, pulling her phone out of her boot and turning on the screen, frowning at the lack of service."Ooor not. Figures there wouldn't be any service."

"Yea, I checked mine too."Donald says, his southern accent more pronounced, belying his actual stress levels."Was gonna try and get a hold of someone from work, but that obviously ain't happening. Wish I hadn't tried around your mom though, that didn't help matters much."She looks back over to see her mom holding Jace now, keeping her tightly against her chest looks around, face pale and eyes showing her own stress."I just want to get them somewhere safe."

"No chance of that, human."Says a raspy voice from behind her, and her mother screams as two dirty, muscled, greenish-grey arms grab and yank Cricket backwards, then presses something sharp against her throat, pressing hard enough to draw blood. Donald backs up slowly, facing Cricket and standing in front of her mom and Jace, waving his large branch in one hand and a sharp rock in the other, face fierce yet scared of whatever it was that was holding her. Her mother looked close to fainting, the only thing holding her back being the fact she had a tight grip on Jace, however she looked more frightened than Cricket had ever seen. There is a series of gutteral noises coming from around her, almost like laughter, and once again she shivers as a sense of familiarity hits her."You're a much better prize than the last group we found. No women, just grizzled old men carrying bags full of flour. You'll be fun to play with, if you last." It runs a sharp nail across her cheek, and she yanks her head away as forcefully as she can."Yes yes, much fun to break."

"Who ever, whatever the hell you are, leave her alone!"Donald manages to stammer."I..I'm warning you, let her go!"

"Please, don't hurt her."Her mother whispers, hugging Jaces whimpering face against her so he can't see what's going on. One of the things steps forward to stab at Donald with a spear, making amused noises when he hits it away with the branch, and with a shock she gets her first real look at her captors.

It wasn't fucking possible.

It was the same monsters she had dreamt of fighting alongside the faces from her binder. They looked like cos players gone to the dark and twisted side, complete with sharpened teeth, grease paint and pointed ears, skin an inhuman color and all carrying an array of deadly looking weapons, all pointed at her family. Her eyes darting back and forth, she realizes that's why the landscape looks so fa miler as well.

But that was crazy, right? She had to be seeing things.

Only, the knife at her throat felt very real, as did the small trickle of blood running down her neck.

"Kill the child and the big man, leave the women alive."The creature(orc?) calls to the others, causing her mother to back up in horror with Jace crying against her still Donald on her heels trying to keep them at bay.

"No!"Cricket yells, struggling against the orc wildly and causing him to swing her around angrily, slapping her across the face and knocking her to the ground."Stupid bitch, stay down if you know what's good for you."He snarls at her, before starting forward with the other two. Her mother screams for her again, this time Jace with her, as Cricket pushes herself off the ground, blood dripping from her busted lip.

Perhaps it was the strike that did it. There had been a couple of times since the miscarriage that someone had startled her and been flipped solidly to the ground, or had gotten drunk and came at her, finding themselves pinned to the wall in seconds, and for the life of her she couldn't remember actually learning that kind of stuff, unless you counted the dreams. She had even done it once to Bo when he had snuck up and grabbed her around the waist, only afterwards(from the ground) saying it was one of the sexiest things he had ever seen. This time was different, however, and as in slow motion she saw them approach her family, something inside her, and her eyes started glowing the slightest of blue.  
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Conner felt it the moment her eyes started glowing, almost as if a blockade on the bond had been released, and it was reacting from her return. Feeling it pulse within him he froze up on the back of the horse he shared with Kili.

"Kili."He whispered to his riding mate, so low he almost didn't hear him."I can feel her."Kili freezes up as well when he hears him say that.

"What? What did you say?"He asks, wanting to double check and not get his hopes up.

"I can feel her!"Conner says louder."She's back, and she's not far!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we need to hurry though, I think she's in trouble!"That's all the pushing the dwarf prince needs, and spurring his horse into action they start racing across the hilly lands. Legolas starts as they race right past him without a word, but the looks on their faces told him something was up, along with the lone word he hear, 'her'. Seconds later he and the rest of the elf guard follows after them, trying their best to keep up.  
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Cricket pulls herself up, eying the dagger hanging from the orcs side. At one point she might have called what happened next pure adrenaline from the danger they were in, but later would admit it was all muscle memory from times past, her training floating to the surface of her consciousness.

Grabbing the dagger she yanks the lead orcs head back and slits his throat, taking his sword and moving on to the next orc before his body even hits the ground. He notices her at the last second and jabs at her with his spear angrily but she twists to the side, avoiding it, and grabs the spear before he can pull it back and try again, stabbing him through the gut with the sword then kicking his legs out from underneath him so he falls back as well and stabbing him in the neck as well to ensure he doesn't get back up. She had learned all about double tapping from Zombieland, and wasn't going to risk him not staying down. As she turns to the last orc there is a sudden sharp pain in her side, and looking down she sees he's shots her with an arrow, far enough to the side that it went straight though with no internal damage but enough of a hit to hurt like a bitch. She gasps in pain but moves towards him anyway, trying to ignore it long enough to make sure he won't be able to hurt her family.

The orc frantically tries to string another arrow before she gets near, but before it can Donald comes up and smacks him over the head with his rock, causing it to scream in pain and distracting it long enough for Cricket to put the sword in its chest and twist, killing it as the sword tears through its heart.

Only once she stops moving with a purpose does the pain hit her, and falling to her knees she can just barely hear a host of heavily booted footsteps heading towards them. She does feel that her mother has dropped down beside her, and Jace has finally stopped crying long enough to let go and grab her around the neck again, scared and not knowing what had happened, only knowing his sister was hurting and bleeding and he wanted to try and help. While Donald stands in front of them, guarding them from whoever was coming close, her mom pushes her hair away from her face, trying to keep it off of her busted lip, gasping wen she notices the wound in Crickets side.

"Oh honey...what did they do to you?"She asks, ignoring for the moment that her daughter just killed the three things without breaking a sweat. Cricket however is too busy blocking the pain the best she can to answer, as well as focusing on the sudden barrage of images running through her head.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dwalin and his regiment had followed the lighting strike to a section of land right over the hill from where they had been, near the old apple orchards and just out of sight of Dale, marked by black, scorched land. What he had expected was possibly a crater from the impact, or a small fire that needed to be put out from some tree branches lit on fire by the strike.

What he hadn't expected was a small family of Men, surrounded by three dead orc bodies. They were still clearly frightened, two of them huddled on the ground next to another one, most likely wounded, and the orcs were freshly dead, yet the branch the large man held coudn't have possibly made the slits and stabs in the corpses.

"What happened here?"Asked one of the recruits haughtily, and he rolled his eyes at the tact of the question, not to mention the stupidity of it. It was obvious the orcs had attacked them, though not so much how they had been killed.

The man narrows his eyes, taking a tighter grip on his branch."We woke up here after a storm knocked us out. Those..things, attacked us! Said they were goin to kill me and my boy, then take my wife and step-daughter for fun! What kind of backwards ass fucking place is this?"

This time Dwalin narrows his eyes, stepping forward before the recruit can get a word in."Yer clothes are a bit..strange. Were you on your way to Dale? And did you kill the orcs?"

"Where the fuck is Dale?"Donald asks angrily."And what does it matter who killed them, dead is dead, right? Is the one who killed them going to get in some kinda trouble for stopping them from killing us?"

"Calm down you great oaf of a man, of course they're not in trouble, anyone who takes orcs out is good in my book, the great bloody baby killers! I'm simply trying to figure out who did it so I can shake their hand!"Then, after a moment of thinking."What do yo mean, where's Dale? Why would you even be in this area if you weren't heading too or from there? You have no reason I know of to be in Erebor."

Donald hesitates and lowers his branch slightly, anger melting away."We have no idea where we are. And..my step-daughter killed them all. Funny, I didn't even know she could fight."

Some of the recruits give disbelieving snorts at that, and Dwalin shakes his head."A lass did this? She must have gotten lucky to get them before they got to her. You're lucky there was only three of them."

The boy breaks away suddenly and darts around the big man, running up to Dwalin and tugging on his armor. Dwalin looks down at him and softens a bit at his sad face, crouching down so he's eye level with the boy, much to the recruits surprise."Aye lad, what is it?"

The boy looks at him with wide, worried eyes."Please, my sissy got hurt saving us from the bad guys, can you help her?"

"I..I can try lad, but I'm no healer. Is she over there behind your ma?"

"Yes, mama's worried cuz she's bleeding and her eyes are closed real tight, like when I get an ouchie and don't wanna cry cuz only girls cry."

"I'll tell ya a secret lad, boys can cry too. I have before, just don't tell the others."Dwalin whispers to the boy.

Jace nods seriously at him."What's your name mister?"

"My name is Dwalin. I'm the Battlemaster and trainer of Erebor, and Commander of the Royal Guard."He says, reaching out and shaking the boys hand gently.

"My name's Jace Allen C.."

"Dw..Dwalin?"A familiar voice gasps out softly from behind the woman, and he pales, standing up slowly as the owner of the voice uses the woman beside her to haul herself up, blue dress stained with blood as it flutters in the breeze, sword still clutched in her hand tightly.

"Lass? Is that you?"Dwalin asks, voice cracking as he steps forward, ignoring the muttering of the recruits trying to figure out what the hell is going on. He walks slowly past the big man guarding them until he's right in front of her, taking in the longer hair, busted lip, and same blue eyes, just sadder than last he saw her, of the woman he trained three years ago, and as a single tear starts down his cheek he surges forward and takes her up in a strong embrace, feeling her finally drop the sword as she hugs him back, body shaking a bit.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you again lass."Dwalin finally says."We didn't think you would ever come back."

"I thought it was all a dream when I got back home."She whispers to him, and he pulls her back to look her in the eye."I woke up and it was like I never left. All I had to remind me was dreams of being here. All I knew was that everyone I kept seeing in them, I missed like my own family."

He smiles at that, setting his forehead against hers."Lass, we are your family."His eyes narrow then, looking down at her wound and pressing a gentle finger to it, causing her to whimper in pain."You've been hit by an orc shaft."

"Yea, I know, hurts like a bitch."She says, a bit of her old humor in her tone.

"We need to get you to Oin..."

"I'll survive until Conner gets to me."She says firmly."I can feel him getting closer, even if I can't hear him. We have a more important thing to deal with at the moment."

"Aye? And what's more important than stopping that bloody poison from running through your bloodstream?"

She steps back, looking towards her family, all who are looking at her and the gruff dwarf strangely."My family. Whoever or whatever it is that keeps bringing me here and back brought them along for the ride as well this time."

"Honey, how do you know this man?"Her mother asks finally, frown on her face as she steps forward.

"He's an old friend, mom. Also a dwarf, not a man. Well, I mean in the gender sense he is, but not the race sense. Unfortunately this isn't a good time to explain our history, but I promise I will."

"But.."

"She's right."Dwalin cuts in."We need to get all of you to a healer as soon as possible so he can take care of that arrow wound, or the poison will settle in."

"Poison?"

"Yes my lady. Orcs cover their arrow heads with it."

"We may have a small problem commander."One of the recruits he sent as a lookout calls out, running forward and saluting him."There's another band of orcs heading this way, larger than the first group."

"How large?"

"About 10 in number sir. It's the only other one we could see, but it's almost here."

"Damn it."Dwalin says, then glances at Cricket."You up for another fight?"

"I'm always up for a good fight, baldie."She says with a pained grin, picking back up the sword she had dropped and holding it tightly."As long as they don't get hurt, I'm good."

"Good."He says, then turns to his recruits."I want four of you in a perimeter around the family, and the rest fighting at the front with us. Not a one of those bastards gets through, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir!"Is the resounding answer, though one dwarf asks bitterly."Why the hell is she fighting with us? She looks like she's gonna topple over dead any moment. She'll just get in the way."

"I could still beat you in a spar any day, red."She says getting a glare from the offending dwarf."I swear, they apparently don't make dwarrow the way they used to. How can you stand it, Dwalin?"

"I find myself wonderin how I don't kill them every day."Dwalin growls."Any more objections and I'll bash you myself, understand?"

"Yes sir!"As the orcs approach they all take a stance, the offending dwarf throwing her another glare before turning to face them, pulling out his own axe. Her family stands behind their guard, still confused by the turn of events, and as the pain ebbs through her, she feels her bond start to pulse, indicating Conner getting closer, and starts running forward with Dwalin, noting with a jab of fear that more of them have bows.

Well, fuck all sorts of duck.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Kili and Conner race over the plains, the elf guard hot on their heels, Conner starts feeling a peculiar tingling sensation across his skin, causing the bond to pulse harder, and he starts to get frightened. He gulps, sure that she's getting attacked and hurt by something, when Kili calls out to him."I can see them, they're with Dwalins group. It looks like they got attacked by a raiding party!"

Sure enough, they make it over the final hill and see Dwalin smashing a final orc in the head with his hammer, bodies of orcs and two dead dwarves surrounding them. That wasn't what drew their attention though, not really.

No, what caught their attention was the woman in the blue dress barely standing, blood staining her side, gash along her leg, a busted lip, and an arrow still sticking out of her forearm.

"Sweet merciful Mahal."Kili whispers as the elves finally come to a stop beside them. He instantly feels the weight behind him vanish, and watches as the blue shimmer races towards her.

Cricket in her haze manages to sense Conner right before he hits her, yelling out to Dwalin just in time a hasty"Get out of the way, now!"Glancing at her with a frown he sees the shimmer as well and realization hits him.

"Get back, now!"He yells to the troops, glad they're fast to act on his orders, and manages to push her family back just in time, her mother screaming and yelling for them to let her go the entire time.

Cricket ignores it all and turns to the shimmer just as it hits her, the reaction much like it was when Conner first hatched, only this time with much more violence and change.

The sensation of the bond becoming whole once more is strong enough to drop her to her knees, and neither of them can speak as the bond surges and stretches, trying to catch both of them up on all the time they lost, to fix the damage done because of it. As the ground beneath her cracks, the same shimmer that Conner becomes when switching forms swirl around her, her eyes glowing a bright celestial blue and her mark reappearing on her neck, glowing the same color. For a moment it's as if they literally merge bodies, as her skin takes on the look of scales covering it, her canines elongate to the point they're touching her bottom lip, and translucent wings emerge from behind her, flapping once and causing the shimmer of power to swirl even faster.

And then she roars. They roar.

Throwing her head back she issues such a roar that the sheer power of it rumbles around her, and the ripple of it sweeps throughout the entirety of the Middle-Earth. Those with no magic in them feel it as a light breeze, while those with magic sense it for the power that it is, and wonder at the identity of it, whether it was good or evil. A living dragon or bondmate would have both felt and heard it, no matter how far, and recognize it as either a cry of pain from one of their own, or one coming into it's power.

Either way it was perceived, it was heard.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dwalin watches the scene in wonder, starting as he can hear a strange blend of both Cricket and Conners voices in his head say,"You might really want to get us to Oin now.", before the swirl finally settles back into her skin and she drops to the ground, all dragon like properties gone, and passes out, Conner with her, back aa a tattoo wrapped protectively around her body.

Her mother takes a chance from the stillness of the awestruck troops to move past them towards her daughter, Donald and Jace not far behind her. She drops down beside Cricket, lifting her up just enough to lay her head on her lap while everyone else inches closer, not sure what to expect next. As Kili and Legolas push their way to the front, her mothers traces the mark on her daughters neck softly, then pushes her hair away from her busted lip once more, looking up at Dwalin with tears in her eyes."She's not..."

"She's just unconscious."He assures her, placing fingers to Crickets neck and feeling a faint pulse."We do need to get her to a healer though, before the poison can move further."

"Please, would someone just explain to me what's going on?"She pleads, trying to avoid the arrow in Crickets arm."How does she know you? How was she able to do all that? What just happened to her?"

"Is she a superhero?"Jace asks innocently, and Kili smiles despite himself, knowing that reference. He then exchanges a glance with Dwalin and Legolas before Dwalin finally answers.

"We can try and fill you in on the way to Erebor, but for now someone needs to take her straight to a healer. Can you trust us to save your daughters life?"

There's a heavy silence, Kili and Legolas keeping calm faces when they hear who exactly it was with Cricket, Kili having a harder time doing so as he realizes this was the same boy that Cricket showed him and his brother pictures of on the journey to reclaim the mountain."Ya'll will be taking us to the same place you're sending her, only slower, right?"Donald asks finally.

"Aye."

Donald nods, and that's all they need for Dwalin to scoop Cricket up into his arms, turning to Kili."I know I don't even need to ask, lad, but..."

"I'll take them, I'm the fastest rider anyway."Kili says, walking hastily with Dwalin to his horse."What happened? All we saw when we got here was dead bodies, scorch marks, and Cricket looking like she took on all of them by herself."

"She might has well have."Dwalin says with a dark chuckle, lifting her up into Kili's arms once he climbs on his horse."One group attacked her before we got there, got in one good arrow shot before they got killed themselves, then once we arrived we got attacked again. The lass took another arrow meant for me, then got slashed by an orc one of the dead recruits didn't make sure was dead, the damn fool. I'd say about five of the kills out there are hers."Once She's firmly in the dwarf princes grasp, he frowns up at the pair of them."Will you be ok riding by yourself? I'm going to have to escort her family back, explain things a bit, not to mention fill the recruits in the best I can without causing widespread panic."

"He won't be alone."Legolas says before Kili can answer, jumping onto his horse along with the other elf guards."We'll continue to escort him the rest of the way. Even if we weren't honor bound to do so I would, I'm just concerned about their safety as you are. I promise they won't come to any harm."

"They better not, twinkle-toes."Dwalin grumbles, but nods in silent thanks all the same."What are you waiting for, go!"

Kili and Legolas both nod and race off towards Erebor, their guard beside them as they kick up a cloud of dust in their wake. Dwalin sighs, not looking to explaining things to both the recruits left and the family, and turns to face everyone and give out orders. However, he's once again surprised by the young boy, Jace, tugging on his armor."Is she gonna be ok mister Dwalin?"He asks, looking up hopefully at the gruff, bald and tattooed dwarf who usually intimidates everyone who comes across him.

Dwalin smiles sadly and picks Jace up, noticing he's the same size as Conner."She will be lad. They're taking her to the best healer I know, and he'll fix her right up, you'll see. Then she'll just need a bit of rest, that's all."Turning to the recruits he issues some quick order, Jace still in his arms as he takes on his don't argue with me tone."You two, burn the orc bodies, put our dead on the two ponies and follow back when you can so they can have a proper goodbye to their families . The rest of you move out with me, we're heading home. I assume you want some answers, so you better pay close attention to what I'm saying on the trek back."As they move to follow his orders, Dwalin walks up to the distraught mother and step-father, still holding Jace in his arms."Follow me. It's not too long a walk, and I'll try and fill you in the best I can on the way."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thorin, Fili and Dis had watched the entire storm from the safety of the hooded balcony, amazed when the bolts all converged on the same spot, then the storm pretty much stopped. Fili in particular had a strange feeling in his gut while he watched, like something was happening that was important to him. It was heightened when all three of them heard the roar, and felt the ripple of power from it as it passed them, stronger for being that much closer to it than, say, Hobbiton was.

"What was that?"Dis exclaimed, and Thorin narrowed his eyes towards the direction that the roar came from, the same place it seemed the lightning had struck."It almost sounded like a dragons roar, but Conner knows better than to draw that much attention to himself..right?"

"I would hope so."Thorin mutters as Dis nervously plays with her braid once more."I'm not quite sure most are ready for the return of a dragon so soon after Smaug, even one as young and innocent as Conner."

"I think we need to keep watching."Fili says with a strange look on his face."I can't explain it, but I think something is coming."

"Like what?"Dis asks curiously, not used to her son acting quite so serious.

"I'm...not sure. Whatever it is..it's important."Fili says, looking hard towards the direction the roar had came from. Thorin and Dis share a twin glance and turn the same way, looking with him to try ad keep an eye out for whatever was on its way. They had been like that for about 10 minutes, Thorin starting to get tired of waiting, when their is an excited noise from his sister.

"Look, just over the hill, I can see someone coming!"She says excitedly, grabbing the telescope from her brother, ignoring the glare he gives her and peeking into it."It looks...like Kili! Kili is home! But...it's just the elves with him."She says, still looking into it with a frown."I don't see Conner, or even Dwalin with him anywhere."

"Are you sure?"Thorin asks, cocking an eyebrow at her as she continues looking, while Fili continues to look without the aid of one, a sinking feeling in his gut."That doesn't sound right, he'd never let Kili get the rest of the way without escorting him."

"Amad...is Kili carrying someone?"Fili asks faintly, and Dis moves the telescope so she can see better.

"Let's see...oh. Yes, he's definitely holding someone, and they look pretty bad off."She says, going pale as Thorin grabs it from her and looks into it himself, while Fili turns around and starts running towards the entrance."Am I missing something? Who does he think it is?"She asks her brother, starting at the shocked look in his eyes when he puts the scope down and starts running himself."Why the hell is everyone running away from me instead of giving me a bloody answer?"She yells, then starts jogging down herself, muttering curses the entire way there.

They make it to the entrance at the same time the horses do, Thorin yelling for them to open the doors so they can come through. Fili runs straight to his brothers horse, not even questioning when Kili passes Cricket gently down into his arms, then jumps off his horse. Dis notices the care they're holding her with and frowns slightly."What's going on, who is this? And where's Conner and Dwalin?"

"Dwalin will be here soon, keep a lookout for him."Kili tells his mother as he and the elves follow Fili up the staircase to the main entrance."Conner is...well look."He moves Crickets head slightly to the side, just enough so Dis can see the dragon tattoo poking from around her neck."We had to get her here fast, Dwalin told us to go on ahead."

"What happened?"Fili asks roughly, trying to keep it together as they make their way to the healers quarters. She had finally back, and close to deaths door from the look of it. How would he ever apologize to her if she died?

"She was attacked by orcs as soon as she got here, one shot her before Dwalin found her, then she took another arrow trying to keep it from hitting him."

"And the orcs that shot her?"

"Very, very dead, half by her hand."

"Good."Fili replies darkly. He would need to go orc hunting if they hadn't been.

"Would someone please answer my question?"Dis asks, annoyed at their conversation as they still haven't filled her in."Who is this, and why is Conner.."She brings her voice down to a whisper as they pass a large group of noble ladies."..in his other form on her? I thought he could only do that with you?"

"Me, and one other person."Kili answers with a pained look as they get closer, the healers quarters in sight. Dis stops in her tracks, face losing all it's color as she realizes who exactly her boys were so worried about. They had to tell her the entire story, or course, when she first came back to Erebor after it was reclaimed, especially when they introduced Conner. She hadn't believed most of it at first, but once Conner turned into a dragon for her she had no reason to doubt. To think, the woman her sons spoke so highly of, the one who helped reclaim the mountain in the first place, the one who helped keep her boys alive, the only other person thought of as a mother, was close to death while she lay in Fili's arms.

Thorin was waiting for them with Oin in the medquarters, having decided Oin needed a warning after seeing the damage done to the woman passed out in Kili's arms, knowing they would bring her straight to him. Oin takes one look at her and his face goes stern, barking orders as Dis enters the room."You two, get her on the bed over here, now!" Fili does as he says, laying her down gently and stepping back."No, no leaving yet lads, I need you for a bit more."

"Believe me, we had no intention of leaving."Kili says, nodding at his brother."What can we do?"

"Two of you grab her top half and keep it still, and you, elf boy!"Legolas darts his head towards the elder dwarf, surprised to be spoken to at all as he stands in the corner watching with a worried expression."Yes you, take her head and keep it still...Lady Dis, do you mind grabbing her legs? I'll need all of you to help keep the rest of her body still while I do this."He says, heating a sharp knife till it is a burning glow.

"What do you think you're doing?"Dis exclaims shrilly as he comes closer with the blade.

"Before we do anything I have to get the bloody arrow out of her, and since it has barbs I have to cut into her a bit."He says with a harsh look."I'm having you hold her down because once I pull, she'll most likely wake up for a short time and start thrashing before slipping back away again. I'l need her still as possible if we're gonna save her."

"You'll have to be even more careful, Conner's still on her."Kili says warningly as everyone takes their places, holding her limbs as gently as possible. I think he passed with her from the strain of the bond rejoining."

"I'll be as careful as I can, lad."Oin says, gently as he can. Surprisingly to everyone Thorin pops out of the room before Oin starts, but they are too absorbed on the task at hand to think much about it."Everyone ready?"They all nod grimly, and as quick and cleanly as he can he makes cuts on either side of the arrowhead, just wide and deep enough the barbs should pop out without too much fuss. Unfortunately, Cricket starts to come out of her sleep just as he starts to pull, so the first thing she sees before blinding pain hits her is three sets of eyes looking at her worriedly, two sets she knows well, and one that looked like they belonged to a female Thorin.

"Kee, Fee..."She says softly, before Oin grips the arrow and yanks it out, causing lights to flash in and out, and a blinding pain that makes her scream in agony as she arches her back, everyone trying to hold her down as she thrashes just as Oin said she would, the other elves having to come in and help as she was proving to be a bit too strong for them. After 10 seconds of this she finally succumbs, slipping back into unconsciousness, and the others sigh in relief as they let go so Oin can start the process of absorbing the poison from her body.

"All right, everyone but Lady Dis has no leave now."Oin says once the concoction in ready, much to the anger of everyone in the room."Now, listen here! I know you're worried about her, but standing here clucking about like a mother hen isn't going to help her much, and seeing as I have to strip her down to apply most of this, I'm pretty sure the only other person who needs to see her like that should be another female. You can stand around outside if you wish, but no one is coming back in until I say so. Go get her some soup if you want to help, she'll need something easy to eat once she wakes up. Bring three, in fact, considering Conner should wake as well. Now go!" Oin all but pushes them out of the room, Dis waving at them as he begins shutting the doors.

"I'll keep an eye on her boys. He's right, you have no right being in here if she has to be stripped down."Dis says, the last words they hear from the room before the doors are slammed in their faces.

 **Gotta say, It's nice having the first chapter of a new story get followed so fast... you guys rock!**

 **Stay tuned for more, and remember, I get to eat a cookie for every review I get, so help feed a fat kid.**


	3. Waiting to Wake up

_**WARNING! At this point I am adapting a bit of mythology to fit my needs, and if that makes anyone mad, they may want to stop reading now. It's all going to eventually fit in with the multiverse and alternate reality theories, but I thought I might give you a heads up, so I hopefully won't get too many complaints. Also, if you spy the foreshadowing for later on, Kudos to you!**_

Kili and Fili both stood blinking at the door that was just slammed in their faces, not believing that Oin had actually kicked them out of the room. The elves sure, but not them. In their minds they had more of a right to be in their with her than anyone else in the mountain, barring Conner who already was, and besides, it wasn't as if the two of them hadn't already seen her naked, accident or not.

Though, now that they thought about it, that probably wasn't the best thing to tell Amad.

It might have been a strange sight to anyone who saw the two princes gaping like fish at the closed door to Oin's personal medical room, designated for only a select few. In fact, if not for they blood drying all over their bodies, none of it their own, it might have been funny. The elves standing to themselves in a corner of the room were only slightly better, blood only on the hands used to hold her down, looking somberly at the two panicked dwarves. Legolas spies a wooden bowl on one of the tables, filled with water for washing up with, and gestures for the guards to wash their hands before walking over to the brothers and placing a hand gently on Kili's shoulder.

"I know you're worried mellon nin, but there's nothing we can do this point but trust in your healer."The elf says, causing Kili to turn towards him slowly, unshed tears still in his eyes."Why don't the two of you wash the blood off of you and come back? She won't be waking too soon, and honestly I don't plan on leaving the mountain anytime soon, considering the circumstances. We can keep vigil until you return."

Kili nods slowly, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, unfortunately smearing the blood on his face."Are you sure? I hate the idea of leaving her alone, even if we aren't allowed in. I just wanna be here for her when she wakes up."

"I'm sure. She will be fine, just give her time."

"How can you sound so sure?!"Fili asks, turning angrily towards the elf prince."How can you sound so damn calm, don't you care at all? She was poisoned twice at the very least out there, and in case you haven't noticed, none of this is our blood! She could be dying in there, and you want us to go wash up!"Fili's hands are clenched as he finishes, and his face is red as he stares Legolas down.

Legolas narrows his eyes at the blonde dwarf prince and takes a step closer to him, looking down at him as his voice drops dangerously soft."I'm sure because I have faith in her, something you strangely enough seem to be lacking. Have you forgotten how strong she actually is, how strong she had to be, in the short years she was gone? At times stronger than any of us would have been in the same instance? Give some credit where credit is due, and trust that is anyone can survive this, she can, especially now that she's back in contact with Conner. Now, I highly suggest you go wash up, then bring back some food back for them like your healer suggested. Healing can be a hungry business after all."

There seems to be a quiet standoff between the two blondes once Legolas finishes speaking, both staring each other down with narrowed eyes, neither moving, just watching one another as the tension intensifies in the room. Finally, Fili nods shortly, turning around and heading out the door quickly, and the tension dissipates. Kili sighs and follows him out a bit slower, pausing before leaving and turning to look at Legolas."Fee doesn't mean it, he's just worried and sometimes has the same issues with showing emotions that uncle does. He should be a lot calmer when he comes back."

"I understand being worried, I really do. But if he doesn't calm down by the time he getss back, I'm knocking him out for his own good."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Fee has a pretty hard head, and it might actually take a couple of knocks."  
*

Lady Dis helped Oin cut the bloodied dress away from the girls body, wincing as they tried to delicately pull it away from the areas it was sticking to her wounds, knowing how much it would be hurting if she was still conscious. She had unfortunately been in this same room with her boys several times in the Blue Mountains for various woulds, including but not limited to broken bones, various cuts and abrasions from training or roughhousing, food poisoning, an arrow in the knee from Fili jumping in front of Kili at the wrong time, and a joke gone bad when the boys got ahold of a spiky plant and not only sat on it, but found out Kili was allergic. Needless to say Oin was very used to her being in his workroom, and automatically trusted her to start cleaning the area around the wounds, while he got the poultice together, then followed behind applying it to the cleaned wounds. As she started cleaning around the stomach wound with a medicated rag, Dis started noticing small things about the girl, some that only a woman really would notice to tell the truth.

The coverings across her chest and lower region were surprisingly delicate looking, both in a dark blue lace which thankfully weren't touched by the blood, and Dis found herself wondering about somehow finding a set like that herself, not having ever thought about having some in such a beautiful color, much less in lace. They were just so..feminine. The girl herself wasn't as tall as Men or elves usually were, nor as skinny, but was instead maybe four, five inches taller than herself, with a body that would be considered healthy among the dwarves, accentuating her natural curves. Her skin was sun kissed, and wasn't perfect like the elves, but one could tell she took good care of it, and that she kept it clean. She had extremely long eyelashes, and a face framed by a mass of dark brown wavy hair, with dark red highlights running through it, and two silver hoops in her ears. Glancing up she could see Conner stretched out so he basically encircled her entire body protectively, much larger than he had ever been on Kili, and he had a faint gleam to him. Looking closer, it almost looked like his tattoo form was breathing, sleeping along with his bond-mate as she healed.

"Master Oin?"

"Yes Lady Dis?"The healer responds, not looking away from his task of applying a thick paste to Crickets stomach wound.

"What do you know of this girl?"

He pauses for only a second before continuing, his new hearing horn working quite well."I'm sure your lads could tell you all about her, they spent more time with her than anyone."

"I have, but I'd rather hear about her from someone else, someone not so young. Someone who has been around for a bit longer, who knows more about life in general. Half the time that they spoke about her, it was almost if she could do no wrong. I need someone unbiased."

"Perhaps to them she couldn't."

"No one is right all the time, not even Thorin."She gives a short smile."Especially not Thorin."

"Considering how often she got onto us for being idiots, she came pretty damn close at times."Said a sarcastic voice from the one window in the room. Throwing a blanket quickly over Crickets body, much to Oin's annoyance, Dis turns with a glare, small knife in hand as she faces the intruder."And boy did she get onto Thorin often."

"Nori..."Dis says sharply, glaring at the dwarf hanging in the windowsill."What do you think you're doing here? We locked the door for a reason."

"Checking on a friend."He says with a shrug, jumping down and shutting the window."What else? And thought was just to keep your lads out, actually."

"How did you..."

"Spymaster, remember? You really think one of the princes could run through the mountain carrying a bleeding, unconcious woman and me not know about it? Your faith in my abilities is amazing."She frowns, lowering the knife a bit."Besides, you want information on anyone, as it sounds like you do, you know I'm the one to ask, not the healer who's useless if he looses his hearing aide."

Oin acts affronted at first before pausing and agreeing silently, having lifted the blanket away enough that he could start working on Crickets shoulder."That still doesn't explain why you're in the room that was purposely locked to keep people out, when I kicked my own sons out not too long ago."

"Oh, that's an easy one."He says with his usual cocky grin."Curiosity."

"Wonderful."She says deadpan, looking like Thorin."Is it sated now?"

"Yep. Now I can help with yours."

"My what?"

"You're curious about Cricket. I can answer any questions you have, and it keeps me in the room longer."

"Nothing to do with catching her unclothed then?"

"Not at all. I prefer my unclothed women conscious when I'm looking at them, and aware of it, thank you very much."He says, causing her to roll her eyes at him and drop the knife completely, turning around and sitting back on her stool. She watches as he walks forward and looks down at her for the first time in three years, eyes showing her the concern his face didn't."What would you like to know?"

Dis pauses for a moment as he pushes the hair out of Crickets face gently, not used to this side of the spymaster."I guess I'd like to know what kind of person she was. What was she like, exactly?"

"Stubborn."He answers immediately, soft smile gracing him."Caring. Pushy at times. Not afraid of hard work, and trained with Dwalin almost every night learning to fight. Not afraid to yell at Thorin for doing something stupid, and usually able to match me wit for wit. Would take an arrow for anyone of us, as you have already seen, and more than able and willing to rescue herself from danger, rather than wait to be rescued. She would yell a bit when upset sometimes, but you knew you were really in trouble when she went silent and would smile sweetly at you, making you fear for your life more than thee yelling ever could. She asked to be taught Iglishmek so she could actually talk to Bifur, and when we were in Lake town she would sit in the center of the marketplace and tell stories to the children. She's the reason we escaped from Thranduil's palace, and the reason we were able to take back the mountain"He finally looks back up at Dis, and it's the most serious expression she has ever seen on his face."She cares a great deal for your boys, and loves Conner like he was her own son. Hell, she defended him from Thorin when the Arkenstone drove him momentarily nutso."

"Did she? How so? Thorin and the boys really don't talk about that too much, or into detail."

"Understandable, considering. Well, at one point Thorin was going for Conner, convinced he was going to take Smaugs place for some stupid reason. Cricket blocked him from getting to Conner, as well as the hobbit he had just saved, and ended up getting backhanded hard across the face by your dear crazy brother, hard enough to get knock to the ground and draw blood. Instead of lashing out at him for the injury, she basically told him that was his one free shot all things considering, since he wasn't in his right mind at all, said he wouldn't get away with it a second time then left the mountain. Luckily that little knock made some of the others come to their senses a bit."

"Was that when you went to the elf army?"

"Yes, and to this day I still don't regret it. Still wondering what kind of person she is?"

Dis sits quietly contemplating what she was just told, glancing over at the sleeping young woman."Not as much as I was, no. You helped make some things clearer for me, if anything. You obviously have a great deal of respect and trust for her, something I don't see you giving out lightly."

"You're right, I don't. It's not every day I meet someone who can keep up with, or even put up with me for most of the time, and that includes my own puts her in a very, very small circle of people."

"As shown by the fact you have no qualms sneaking into her room when she's unconscious and half naked."Dis says flatly, to which Nori only grins in reply. Suddenly Dis takes on a mischievous look of her own."Did she really call the Goblin King a lump of bread dough done bad?"

"Oh yes, then stabbed him in the stomach."Nori says with a fond smile, remembering that little adventure well, though certain parts stuck out more than others."Not only that, but during the war negotiations, she took over the conversation completely to get what she wanted, called all the kings in residence a bunch of bickering children, then walked out with the last word and a smile on her face."

"I bet the looks on their faces were priceless!"

"She actually reminds me a bit of you, especially when she gets onto Thorin and the lads."  
"Definitely. We need more strong women in the mountain, to make up for the sheep headed men who make up most of the house of Lords."

"I'll agree with you there."Dis says with a smirk, then sobering up as she glances over at the woman next to them."She needs to heal first though."

"She will."Nori says matter of factly."She's strong, and like I said, stubborn to boot."

"I hope you're right."Dis says softly, noticing that the finished Oin was passed out on a chair in the corner, hearing horn in his hand.

"I am."He replies, and they both gaze at Cricket, breathing peacefully on the table as the poultices do their work."So, you know she's technically your daughter now, right?"  
*

While everyone else was helping hold down Cricket while Oin removed the arrowhead, Thorin slipped out to head back to the gates, wanting to meet Dwalin when he got back and find out not only his side of things, but why he didn't follow Kili and Cricket back. Not only that, but considering the way some of their last interactions had went, he felt he had little right to be there, and instead would be needed behind the scenes for a bit to make sure things continued to run smoothly. Glancing down at the ring made for him, as well as the rest of the surviving company months after the mountain was taken back, he can't help but regret the way he had acted around everyone while under the influence of the gold sickness, and feel a pang of longing for the dear hobbit he had tried to throw off the mountain in his anger. Luckily for him, Conner was able to rescue him, thank Mahal.

Pushing all of that to the side of his mind, Thorin climbs to the ramparts looking over the main entrance of the mountains entrance way, so he can spy when Dwalin has made his way back. He leans against the railings and stares out at the lands, his mind wandering as he waits.

In the following years after the war, he had been busy enough rebuilding the mountain and his people, as well as setting up trading contracts with his allies from the war, that he hadn't had many chances to think about the young woman who had helped him reclaim it in the first place. The times that he had, however, were usually initiated by seeing how sad the people who had been closest to her were when something reminded them of her, and every time he saw Kili and Conner together doing something she should have been there for. He had been secretly pleased when Dis took to the baby dragon sa quickly as only a good mother could, knowing it would help fill a gap in Conners heart, and he tried his best not to be bitter every time the two of them would head off to the elves palace for another bout of training, though it was likely for the best he didn't interact much with the elf prince, much less his egotistical father.

What he hadn't expected was to occasionally be the one to comfort the dragon when it stormed and he was scared, or for Conner to want to shadow him while he does some of his duties, curious and easily bored in his young age. Sometimes he would even find Conner curled up in one of the large chairs in his study, toy sword in hand. Thorin would let him sleep, finishing up whatever he was there to do, then carry the sleeping dragon to either Dis or Kili, whoever he found first, and they would simply take Conner back with a knowing smile.

Along with Dis, Fili and Kili, the rest of the company took it upon themselves to try and help raise Conner as well, Thorin had noticed thoughtfully. Gloin and Bombur both with children of their own, made sure he had friends his own age, though it was awkward at times as none of them knew what he actually was and he couldn't always be truthful with them. Bifur taught Conner Iglishmek, while Ori would take him to the library he was in charge of, once it had finished being restored. Balin and Dori were the go to babysitters, as both of them had helped raise siblings and enjoyed telling the young dragon stories about the earlier days of the mountain, and the dwarves. Oin didn't actually see him as much as the others, but he would occasionally join them for a cup of tea at Dori's teashop, or do an occasional checkup when Kili or Fili came in with a new wound with Conner in tow. Nori, of course, would watch the child closely whenever he could to make sure he was never put in any danger, but was told by both Dwalin and Dori that if he decided to tech him any of his personal skills, they would chop his fingers off, among other things.

Nori was pretty damn sure he knew what extra part Dwalin would cut off, and he very much wanted to keep that part.

Dwalin and Fili often had Conner around while Dwalin was training the troops and Fili was sparring, the younger ones sometimes play fighting with him, much to Conners delight. Dwalin had also started training him on fighting basics like stances, breathing, and what end to stick a person with. For now it was just with the little wooden sword Bofur had made for him, as the boy hardly went anywhere without it, but sometime soon he hoped to switch him to a real weapon.

However, even with all the love and attention given to the little rascal, Thorin could see how much he missed Cricket. You could see it in his eyes, in the way he looked at dwarflings with their mothers, the way he would sometimes go quiet and just stare off into the distance. You would have to call his name a couple of times for him to realize you were there when he stared off like that, and a couple of seconds more for him to perk back up. Kili was the same way at times, and even Fili seemed more serious lately, neither of them acting like themselves, both which worried Thorin. Kili said that Conner told him once that he was looking into the bond to see if he could sense Cricket at all, instead of just the ghosting of her presence. Fili had taken to fiddling in his pocket whenever he got quiet, messing with something he kept there, but wouldn't let anyone know what it was.

Now that she was back though, things were bound to change again, though for the life of him he couldn't be sure if it was going to be for better of for worse.

Gazing thoughtfully beyond the mountain, Thorin finally saw the distant images of a group making their way towards the main gate, and turned his spy glass in the direction to see a bit better.

Dwalin seemed no worse for the wear from thins angle, which Thorin had expected even after the orc fight, though he was short a couple of recruits when he counted. However, as he changed angles, he saw bodies on the back of two ponies, and brought the count back up to what had left, though not all returned alive. What he hadn't expected was his friend to be carrying a small child on his shoulders, as well as a Man and a woman walking alongside him, both tired and dirty looking with worried looks on their faces, as well as strange clothing that looked a lot like Crickets when she first came here.

That might explain some things.

The recruits had strange looks on their faces as well, and Thorin frowned as he turned and made his way down to the entrance way, wondering what exactly Dwalin had told them, what they had all seen, and just how much damage control he would actually have to do considering what he already knew from Kili.  
*

Dwalin had given the child back and ran ahead so he could tell Thorin everything that had happened away from the ears of the recruits, and by the time he was finished Thorins eyebrows were completely raised, not at all expecting quite that."I told her family I would escort them here, after sending Kili off first to get her to Oin, then filled them in the best I could around the greenies."

"What do they know?"

"Everything. I hadta tell them about the first time she was here because of her and Conner joining back up."He says gruffly, glancing back at the family getting closer to them."It was the nutshell version, of course, and I didn't want the recruits to know everything. I figure either Cricket or one of the others will go into more detail when she wakes up, and they're in a more private situation."He says when she wakes up the same way Nori did to Dis, as if it's a fact with no reason to question.

"How did the recruits take to what they did hear...and see?"

"Two of them remember her slightly from the war, and know that part of what I said was true. The others seemed hesitant to believe, and I'm pretty sure they think she's another wizard, like Gandalf. Well, sorceress I should say. I figured between the two of us we can scare them into believing what they need to believe, or into just keeping their traps shut."The last part he says with a ferel grin to his king and friend, and despite the circumstances Thorin can't help but smile shortly back, shaking his head.

"I suppose we'll have to."He would have said more, but at that point Crickets family had made it to them with the remaining guard recruits, and Thorin could finally tell just how tired they really were, how out of their element. He straightens himself out and faces them, putting on what he hopes is a serious look, and not just what Dwalin calls his bitch face."Welcome to the Kingdom of Erebor...I've been told you're the family of Lady Cricket, is that correct?"

"Uhh..yes."The tall Man says, stepping up beside the anxious looking woman holding a sleeping blonde child."We were promised to be taken to her as soon as we got..where ever we are. Who are you supposed to be, and are you gonna make that happen?"

Thorin internally smiles at the Mans up front attitude, though he keeps face as so many of his people are looking curiously on. Dwalin, however, has no such qualms and smiles anyway, having been around the Man long enough to actually kind of like him, as well as the child and mother."If Dwalin promised that to you, than I promise I will make it so. As to who I am, I'm the king of this mountain, as well as the peoples populating it. My name is Thorin Oakenshield."

"I..uh..Donald, your highness."He says, a bit flustered now."This is my wife Dawn, and our son Jace. Thank you for your help, we're still a bit confused by everything."

"It's understandable. Would you like to be taken to your guest room yet to freshen up and rest, or be taken straight to her?"

"Please, I just want to see my daughter!"Dawn says, voice frantic yet overtired."We can wash and sleep later!"

Thorin nods briefly, turning to Dwalin."Would you take them to Master Oins facilities? I know you'd like to be there as well, to check on her."

"Aye, I can do that. What about you?"

"I'm going to have a large guest room set up for them, as well as have a little talk with your guard recruits."

"See, you're getting to do the fun part."Dwalin says, glancing over at the nervous looking recruits."Ah'll let you get away with it this time only because you're right about wanting to check on her, but next time I wanna help scare em silent." Then, turning to the family with a much calmer smile,"Come on, ah'll take you to her."

The family nods mutely, still comprehending the fact they just met royalty(obviously something they don't see much of in the states) and follow Dwalin downa corridor before disappearing from view. For a moment the blonde child sleeping on his mothers shoulder reminds Thorin of Fili, which makes him smile softly before turning to the recruits, face at its normal stern look.

"All of you follow me."He orders now that the bodies have been taken down to the catacombs until the families have been told, then turns and starts walking down the hall to his smaller audience chamber, wanting both privacy and the intimidation factor the crown and throne combined will give him when speaking with the guard recruits. Once he has seated himself, the doors close and the recruits stand in a twitchy single file line before him, and he allows himself to speak once more."Before we go into what you saw today, I need one of you to answer a very important question. What is the main job of the position all of you were recruited to train for?"

A sturdy looking red head, with an extremely busy beard and head of hair, steps forward."Our job would be to, once finished training, protect the royal family, protect the mountain and the peoples within, as well as any other duties asked of us by our commander and king."

Thorin nods briefly as the dwarf steps back in line."Correct. However, you do know that part of the job is to keep silent about certain things when asked, as some things don't need to be known by the populace and would cause not only a widespread panic, but could possibly put others in danger if certain things were known as well. Right?"The recruits nod stiffly, eyes confirming their agreement, and he continues on."Good. Now, I've heard you saw something very...interesting..happen while waiting for prince Kili and his charge to return. What did you think of it?" The recruits now share confused looks, not quite understanding the situation yet, but try to answer none the less.

"It felt...powerful, your highness. It was like staring too closely at a star."

"It was almost intimate, sir, as if it was something we shouldn't have seen. She was a hell of a fighter though, even wearing that flimsy little dress."

"She looked almost in pain when it happened, though it could have been her wounds."

"She was impudent, and talked back to her betters."

"Shut up Dlink, she was a better fighter than you could probably ever be."

"Um, loud and bright?"

All of the answers seemed to come at one, though he had no trouble distinguishing each of them, due to practice during meetings with the loud voiced nobles. Once he had heard what he needed to, most about the joining, he held up a hand for them to stop, noticing Balin watching from behind a curtain, and continued on himself."Correct on all accounts, though calling her impudent again among myself or any other member of the company that took back the mountain is highly discouraged, lest you want to lose vital parts of your body, as well as any chance of continuing your position now. Not only that, but while she is here, you're to give her the same respect and courtisies you would any member of the royal family, is that clear?"

"Sire, wasn't she a member of the original company?"One of the recruits ask, stepping up curiously."I remember seeing her at the battle for the mountain."

"That's impossible, they wouldn't let a girl like that fight in an important battle, I don't care how good she was killing orcs!"Says Dlink angrily, two others nodding along with him.

"She was, actually."Thorin says, causing the dwarf who asked to smirk at the trio, who in turn looked at their king in disbelief."She helped to take down Azog the defiler."

"Told ya. Fought like a wildcat during the battle, she did."

"Indeed. Which you would have already known if you had bothered to listen while Dwalin explained things to her family."

"Please, like any of that was true. It had all the soundings of a tall tale if there ever was one."

"Are you calling Commander Dwalin a liar then?"Thorin asks coldly, one eyebrow raised.

"What? No, I..."

"Because I'm sure he'd be very interested to know one or more of his recruits think so poorly of him, think he'd lie about something like that. Is that what you're saying?"The recruits in question are white as milk now, eyes wide in fright as he violently shakes his head in a resolute no."That's what I thought. We don't need anyone accidentally getting broken legs or ribs in a training accident again, or accidentally getting slipped some of Nori's poison. Now, I want all of you to keep today's little happening a secret for now. Everything will be revealed soon enough, but considering that she's currently under the care of Master Oin due to multiple orc poisonings and massive blood loss, the last thing lady cricket needs is people crowding her for a look, when what she needs is heavy rest. Do you understand?"

"Yes, your highness."

"Good, because if I find out through my spymaster-who will be looking in on you to make sure none of you have developed a horrible case of loose lips-that you apparently don't...let's just say Dwalins training sessions will be like childs play, and the guilty party will be begging for a vacation in the dungeons. On that note, all of you are dismissed."

As he watches all of them exit the room as soon as possibly without actually running, he feels Balin walk up beside him.

"You think that will keep them quiet?"

"I think between the fear of you and Dwalin, they'll keep their mouths shut. Adding in Nori watching them and possibly poisoning them didn't hurt anything though."Then, after a couple of seconds,"Is she really back then?"

"Aye."Thorin filled Balin in the best he could.

"Does the rest of the company know yet?"

"No, not yet, I honestly haven't had time, and doubt the lads have either. I don't suppose you would send messages to all of them, saying to meet up at Oins practice as soon as they can? Dwalin can fill them in on the situation as they arrive."

"Aye, I will. Are you going to show up as well?"

"Yes, I just need to take care of some things first. I still need to have the guest room set up for her family. Go on ahead old friend."  
*

Kili and Fili met back up two hours after leaving Cricket in Oins capable hands, arms full of stuff for her and Conner once they woke back up. While Fili headed straight to the kitchens after washing up, to get food for the both of them, Kili had a quick thought that since they were having to most likely cut off her dress to get to her wounds, she would need something to wear afterwards. In a moment of mixed thoughtfulness, and the fear of seeing her naked again and needing brain bleach once more to get the image out of his head, he went up to where he had stashed the bag she had left behind her first time here, coming back down with one of her soft elven dresses for Rivendale, a pair of slippers, a long piece of lace from Laketown to tie her hair back, and a smaller one to tie in her eagle feather and the family bead he had given her. The latter two had been found lying on top of Antons bag after she had been spirited home, as if she hadn't been wearing them in the first place, and Kili had made sure they stayed safe ever since then, along with the rest of her belongings.

As far as they knew, Dis had yet to be told of his adopting Cricket as his sister in the first place, and figured once she woke up would be as good a time as any, even if Fili was still sore about it for some reason.

Fili met him with a tray full of covered food, and together they walked back to Oins practice with somber looks on their faces, ready for a long wait if need be. However, once they make it they see they're no longer going to be alone in their waiting, not counting the elves, too silent for their own good. Dwalin and Crickets family, sans the mother, are sitting closest to the doors, with a pouting Nori sitting next to Dwalin and Bifur. Bombur was on the other side, munching nervously on a loaf of bread next to Gloin, while Balin was walking in behind them with Dori and Ori.

"Soo, guess Uncle let the cat out of the bag then?"Kili ventured, watching as Fili placed the food on a table next to the door then leaned up against the wall, arms crossed and silent. Kili did the same with the clothing, looking up hopefully at Legolas before sighing at the elf shaking his head.

"Nah, Thorin just told em to show up, I filled em in as they showed up. Of course, if I hadn't, the idiot next to me probably would have."Dwalin says, glaring at Nori beside him.

Kili glances at the idiot in question curiously."How did you know she was here? We didn't tell anyone, we just came straight here."

"Lad, as I told you Amad, I'm the Spymaster. I'd be a piss poor one if I didn't know about something like a bloody prince riding in."

"Oh yes, good point."Then, after a couple of seconds."Why do you look like Fee does when we get kicked out of the kitchens looking for fresh cookies?"

"And by that you mean?"

"Pouty."

Dwalin snorts."Sneak thief here got kicked out of the medical room after climbing in the window for a better look."Dwalin says, once more glaring at Nori, barely missing the thief sticking his tongue out at him as he looked over at the princes with a slight, proud smile."You should have seen it, the lasses Amad pounded on the doors, yelled that she was Crickets mother and that she demanded to be let in, then together with Lady Dis they literally threw him out of the room."

"I'm not pouting."Nori says irritatedly, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh."But at least now I definitely see where Cricket got it from."

"You're so pouting."Kili says with a grin."Your lip was pouching out and everything. You looked like Conner when Amad tell him no to, well, anything."

Donald chuckles quietly at that, trying not to jostle the sleeping child in his lap."Jace is the same way. We'll find him hiding in the pantry eating junk food after we tell him no, then he'll scream and run away."

"That's a growing lad for ya."Gloin says with a quiet laugh, Bombur nodding in agreement, both thinking of their own children.

"Would you like to lay him down?"Balin asks gently from his seat next to Dori."We have plenty of blankets in the cabinet over there, as well as some pillows."

"No thanks."Donald says shaking his head."No offense to any of ya'll, but I feel better holding him right now."

"None taken."Balin says softly, the others nodding their heads as they all tap their legs anxiously against the floor."You're in an unfamiliar place, you were attacked as soon as you arrived, and now your daughter is unconscious in the room next to you, I would keep him close as well. However, you do need to know that he's currently safer in this room that anywhere else in the world."

"Because of A..Cricket?"

"Precisely. Even if she hadn't told us all about the nephew she missed so much the first time she was here, the fact you are indeed her family merits not only our protection, but I'm fairly sure their protection as well."The last part he aims towards the elves in the corner of the room talking amongst them selves, and Legolas nods his agreement, face emotionless as they all share a bit of Lembas bread to stave off hunger.

Donald frowns, glancing once more at the locked doors keeping him from his wife and stepdaughter."That part is still a bit confusing to me, I'm afraid. That she was here before, and for so long, without hardly any time passing for us at all."

"That, I'm afraid I can't explain. None of us here are at all experts, or even novices when it comes to magic or world traveling. The only one who might be able to answer any questions you have is Gandalf, and at the moment none of know where he even is."

"She did seem..different, when she came back."Donald says with a frown."She seemed sadder, like she was missing something in her life. I thought it was because of the..."He cuts of, realizing that probably wasn't his secret to tell."Well, it doesn't matter at this point. She starting acting like her old self after a couple of months, but every time she called, we could tell she wasn't quite the same. She must have been through a lot here, to affect her like it did."

"She was."Legolas says, and the dwarves all look warily at him."I might not have been with her as long as all of you were, but in the time I was, we had quite a few talk about her time here so far, and I saw part of what she had to deal with. She had a lot of weight of her shoulders."

"Gandalf told her that we wouldn't be able to take back the mountain without her with us."Fili added in from his place at the wall, arms still crossed."He wouldn't say how, or why, and he probably didn't even know, but it was something he pushed. Add on to that her finding Conners egg, then getting pushed into all the responsibilities from his hatching and their bonding, waiting to see if we would get let out of the dungeons, trying to keep us in our right minds when we were affected by the gold sickness, loosing Bofur..."They all have a sad look on their faces when he says this, even the elf prince."It was all on her."

"We tried to help her the best we could though."Dwalin says to Donald, whose face had turned white at the mentionings of some of what she had been put through."She was never alone, we made sure of that."

"I'm glad she had such good friends to help her, then."Suddenly, in his sleep, Jaces stomach growls loudly, startling them all into laughter, and the boy starts moving around, groaning."Um, I don't suppose you have anything to eat? We were on our way to do just that when the storm brought us here."

"We brought some for for Cricket and Conner when they woke up, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you broke into it."Kili says with a bright smile, ever the friendly one."We can always get more for them, considering you're awake now and apparently very hungry."

"Thanks."Donald says as Jace starts to open his eyes blearily, smacking his lips.

"Can I.."Bombur starts, having finished his bread.

"No!"Says the majority of the room, causing Donald to bark in laughter. Bombur scowls and crosses his arms, while Balin shakes his head.

"Calm down, I'll grab one of the maids and see if they can bring all of us a bit to eat."Bombur immediately cheers up, while Jace gazes curiously around at the gathered dwarves and elves with wide eyes, smiling when he sees Dwalin, then frowning slightly.

"Papa?"

"Yes son?"

"I hafta go potty."  
*

While everyone else was talking, eating, washing, threatening, and basically trying to keep life as normal as possible under the dire circumstances, Cricket was, for the first time in a very long time for her it seemed, drifting around in a dream with Conner, the visual image of the bond in the background, the braids and ropes coming out of it and through it caressing them gently every couple of seconds. They were both floating in mid air, Crickets arms wrapped around Conner as they were there for what seemed like an eternity. Cricket was wearing a pure white shift, sleeves flowing outwards, while Conner was in his child form still, though he had horns and a tail, as well as smatterings of scales in various places across his skin.

They were both in a state of total relaxation, the bond keeping them from feeling the pain the was issuing through her body while Oin did his work on his wounds. It was also working to mend and fix whatever lapses were between the two of them from not being together for so long, bringing Cricket slowly up to his level of training in the way only it could, temporarily melding their minds to speed up the process. That was actually part of the reason they were both unconscious still, as it was a delicate process that didn't need to be interrupted in any way, shape or form. They didn't mind, however, it meant they got to stay together longer, and make up lost time.

Towards the end, however, a gentle, familiar voice started waking them from their relaxation. Opening her eyes slowly, Cricket focused on a figure to her right, finally recognizing Katla, smiling serenely at her.

"Hello Cricket."

"Katla...it's you."

"Yes. It seems I've become your mentor and guide as much as dear Smaug. Do you remember what happened?"

"I..."Cricket focuses, images jumping out at her as Conner opens his eyes as well."I think I do. My family was brought here?"

"Indeed, and you were heavily poisoned. Luckily dear Kili brought you to Oin on time. As we speak, you are healing from your wounds on Erebor."

"Why was I brought back? Or, more to the point, why was my family brought? Surely they don't have any reason to be here. I don't want them in danger."

"I would think not."Katla says, a frown on her face."There are impressions of the power that brought you here leftover on you, but it's nothing I recognize, and it was extremely bright, the visual almost a gold light. I'm starting to wonder if it is even based here, though I can't be for sure. Even so, it feels as if your family being brought with you were merely an after effect from being close to you when you were brought."

Cricket frowns as well, once again rubbing the spot behind her ear that had been itching lately, filing the information back for later."That's some good news I guess. What's weird though is I can remember how the story was supposed to go this time, and the story beyond. Does that mean anything further than now is new territory? Or will it turn out the same? "

"That, I cannot tell you. However, considering your role in our world now, I would urge you to follow your heart and your mind, and determine what you think would be the right path to proceed now. Remember, in the end, you are one of the protectors of this realm. If you end up doing things that seem strange to the others, so be it."Katla smiles then, and Cricket and Conner drift down slowly, feet touching the dream floor."It is good to see you again, I must say, and I know it must feel good to see Conner again."

"It is."Cricket says with a smile, ruffling the boys hair as he gazes up lovingly at her."The entire time I was back, I could tell something was missing, but could only remember it in glimpses while I was sleeping. I have a whole binder full of pictures of various faces from here, and I couldn't show it to anyone because I was afraid they would think I was crazy."

"I would check the bond for you."Conner says to her quietly, gripping her hand tightly, as if afraid she would disappear again."There were little hints of you everywhere, but it was like you left a ghost. It helped, having Kili, but it wasn't the same."

"It never is."Katla says softly to them."The ghost of her was left because of the bit of bond left with Kili. It helps you have a connection to her, but only enough to stave off the depression, the hibernation."

Cricket is silent for a moment, eyes narrowed in concentration."When I was back home, I met a man named Bo. He was almost the spitting image of Bofur, he even had a toy store and the accent. Was that..."

"Him? It very may as well been, though a reborn version. The world tree that connects us all has a habit of recycling the souls that comes through it at times, giving them second chances instead of permanent rest. Tell me, did he seem drawn to you?"

"Yes, we were dating for a while."

"Then his soul most likely recognized yours. It wouldn't remember anything from its previous life, but it would still see you as someone it wanted to know."

"That's good to know, I guess. But what's the world tree? This is the first time I've heard of it here. I've heard about it in my world, but not connected to this one."

"If I had the time, I would tell you all I know about it. Unfortunately, it is almost time for the two of you to wake up. If you remember to, try the library in the mountain, or ask Gandalf about the world tree. He may have answers for you."As she starts to fade, the bond-world going dark, she speaks one last time."Take care of one another in the time coming, and trust your instincts. I sense something is coming, something that may change of Middle earth for good. I cannot tell if it is good, or bad, but you should be ready. I will see you again, when the two of you dream."

The last thing the two of them see before the dream goes black, is Katla shifting into her dragon form, then disappearing completely into the visual of the bond.  
*

Dis and Dawn were sitting side by side in the medical room, neither knowing quite what to say to one another, but both knowing it helped to have the other there. Dawn held her daughters hand, staring in wonder at the tattoo that shimmered on her skin, shifting every once in a while it its sleep. Oin had grunted a bit, waking when the two of them had thrown Nori out(pleased in secret that they had), before explaining to her in the simplest terms what he had done once she had arrived, and what was covering her wounds, what it was doing. Dawn had taking in all in quietly, dragging a stool right next to the table and plopping down on it, no doubt in any of their minds that she was planning on staying there until her daughter woke up.

About 30 minutes in, Dis walked over to the distraught mother with two steaming cups in her hands, holding out one to Dawn."Drink this. It will help keep you awake, as well as keep you somewhat sated until you're able to eat. It's clear you're exhausted."

Dawn takes it silently, nodding her thanks and taking a small sip."Thank you."She finally says, after the silence is too much."What is it?"

"A herbal tea I brew myself. I've been in here several times with my own children, and Master Oin has learned to keep it on hand."

"Not to mention I drink it myself."Oin says from the corner, where he is mixing together some tonics for them to drink when they wake up."Other than Dori, you have the best taste in tea I've ever seen, not to mention the skill to perk it up for various needs."

"Thank you."Dis says humbly, taking a sip of her own. The silence stretches on once more, everyone sipping on their tea as they let it do its work.

"Did..you know my daughter as well?"Dawn asks quietly, glancing up for a moment to look at Dis.

"I did not. I heard several stories about her from my sons, but never had the pleasure of meeting her until now."

"I don't know the whole story yet...the parts I do know seem almost too farfetched to be true. Yet here we are."

"It's understandable. I had a hard time believing part of what my boys told me, but too many of the others in the company told me the same things for it not to be true. I'm sure once she wakes up, she will tell you everything."

"I hope so. I guess I should ask, where exactly are we? Other than Erebor, I mean."

"The land itself is the middle earth. Is that what you meant?"When she sees the woman's expression she frowns slightly."What's wrong?"

"You're kidding right? We couldn't possibly be in the middle earth."

"I'm afraid you are. Why, have you heard of it before?"

A raspy voice interrupts before Dawn can answer."You could say that. Let's just say she's seen it in a book before."Both the women and Oin turn slowly, just in time to see Cricket opening her eyes, painfully moving around on the blanketed table, and a shimmer of power swirling right above her, taking the form of Conner in his child form, no horns, scales or tail this time, but instead his traveling clothes and Bofurs hat on his head. Cricket still just had her underclothes and a blanket.

Conner lifts his head up from her chest and smiles tiredly, the mark under his eye not glamoured yet."Welcome back Mama Cricket."Right after that, before she can get up or even answer, everyone else in the room springs into action, her mother jumping up and hugging her tightly around the neck, tears in her eyes, while Oin hurries over to check on her wounds. Dis takes the moment to smile and slip out of the room, letting the two of them have a moment before the doors are opened up to the rest of them. As she closes the doors behind her, she turns and smiles at the gathered group of people who look up at her, at all the hopeful and worried faces.

"She's awake."

 _ **The building part is almost over, time to get to the fun stuff!**_


	4. Reconnecting with Everyone

Everyone immediately jumps up, at least those who aren't already standing, and they all try to rush the door at the same time, only to be stopped in their tracks by the stern looking dwarf dam.

"Hold it, all of you."She says, glaring at all of them."When I say she's awake, I mean she literally just woke up. Not only does she still need to be looked by Oin, but all she is currently wearing are underclothes and a blanket, and I'll be damned if all of you are just going to rush in with no thought to her privacy like a bunch of children. Now, once Oin has has cleared her, and we get some clothes on her, I'm sure she would love to see all of you, but for now give her a little bit of breathing room. Am I making myself clear?"

While Fili and Kili mutter a quiet,"Yes Amad.", while the rest of them shuffle around sheepishly, even the elves."Um, Amad?"Kili says before she can turn back to the room and close the doors behind her. When she pauses and looks at her youngest, he takes the pile of clothes he brought and hands it to her."I brought these for her from her old bag, I thought she could use them."

Dis smiles, taking the clothes from him."Thank you Kili, that was thoughtful of you. As soon as she is ready for company, I promise you can see her. Now just relax a bit, I'm sure it won't be long. Your wife has calmed down a little bit, by the way."She says, looking at Donald."I gave her some hot tea to calm her nerves, and she's doing a lot better."

"Thank you for that."Donald says gratefully."She doesn't always do well under pressure and A..Cricket isn't the type to get into trouble, so this is new for her."

"Understandable, only my children get into trouble all the time."She says, throwing the two of them a smirk."The tea I gave goes a long way to keeping me sane and relaxed."With that she turns around and closes the doors, leaving a silent group of males in her wake.

"Your Amad is a force of nature, lad."Dwalin says, shaking his head."I'm glad she's on our side."

"Your side of what?"Donald asks curiously."Are you in some sort of war?"

"You mean other than with the damn orcs that roam around? Aye, with almost every noble that came from the Iron hills when we took the mountain back, angry about how Thorin runs things. She's good about listening in to the meeting Thorin has with them, making sure she doesn't miss anything that might be useful, helping him make rational decisions once he gets back to his office, and is a member of the small council he confers with before making a decision about anything major that involves the mountain or its people. She's a much more level-headed version of him, but can be just as ruthless, and while the dwarves from the Blue Mountains know how she can be, those from the Iron Hills have no idea yet."

"She can be scary."Fili says with a nod.

"Even Uncle doesn't make her mad, and he's her twin."Kili adds in.

"Once, when he made her really, really mad back home, she got him drunk, and when he passed out she braided his beard and hair into the branches of a tree she hauled him up on, and when he woke up he fell off and hung there for 5 hours before she finally told Dwalin where he was so he could get him down."

"And that was just because he asked he if she needed help moving around some furniture because it looked a little heavy for her to move herself."

"She said next time that she would paste pink ribbons into his beard, and his cakes would start containing a surprising amount of crunchy bugs."  
**************************

"Open up lass."Oin says, handing her a vial of clear liquid and watching as she downs it."Now, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Are you counting the ones behind your back?"Conner says mischievously, causing Cricket to snort as Dis comes back into the room."Because that's cheating."

"Pretty sure he isn't."Cricket says, slowly stretching before taking a look at the hand in front of her."Three."

"Good, good. How badly do the injuries bother you at this moment? Are you feeling dizzy, nauseous, confused at all?"

"A bit dizzy, but that's probably normal. And yea, they sting a bit, but not as bad as I thought they would."

"That would be the paste I put on before I bandaged them up, it has a numbing agent. You will unfortunately feel them in a couple of hours, but I'll give you another vial to swallow before you sleep to help you heal more as you rest. The stomach wound will take the longest to heal, but it's a much more tender area and as long as I change the medicated bandages twice a day it should heal fine."

"I may actually be able to heal faster with Conners help."She says, lowering her feet slowly to the ground."I'm apparently supposed to heal faster, being a dragon knight and all."

"Aye, well, until I see it for myself I'm going to treat you like any other stomach wound victim. I don't put much faith into that bloody magic when it comes to healing, and I'll be making sure you heal the old fashioned way."He says, scowling at her."Now, come to your feet please, and let's see how well you can stand on your own."Cricket complies, gingerly coming off of the table until she is barely holding on, light headed at first but closing her eyes until it dissipates, then opening them back up and letting go, swaying a bit but that's all."You're holding your weight well, but I'll probably have one of the lads keep close to you for a while just in case. Considering you don't know your way around the mountain it can kill two birds with one stone."

"Luckily she has several volunteers waiting right outside these doors to help with that."Dis says with a smile, watching as Cricket slowly puts one foot in front of the other, wincing slightly from her injuries as they stretch the skin, even with the numbing agent.

"So are you saying that she's good to go?"Dawn asks hopefully."I mean, she did lose a lot of blood after all, and she was hurt pretty bad."

"Before you got here, I actually transferred a small amount of blood to her."Dis says, showing the spot on her arm where Oin did the transfusion."And the vial he had her swallow will help encourage her blood to replenish itself a little faster than normal. She's going to be fine now that the poison is sucked out of her body."

"That's right, all I need to do at the moment is change your bandages again, then make sure you have an escort able to catch you in case you have a spell. I'll send you off with your other vial to take before bed, then you can come back tomorrow for me to check up on your wounds and change it again."

Dawn sighs heavily."That's such a relief. Thank you so much."

"That's all well and good, but I don't see me leaving the room any time soon, unless you expect me to walk out wrapped in a blanket."

"Oh, I've got you covered."Dis says with a smile, handing her the clothes Kili brought."Kili says he got these for you out of your old bag."

"Bless his goofy little heart."Cricket says, taking the clothes gratefully."At least I know they'll fit."

"Old bag?"Dawn asks curiously.

"Yea...from the last time I was here."Cricket replies softly, sitting back down as Oin starts changing the bandages, wincing from the blood sticking a bit."It's a long story."

"Your friend, Dwalin is it? He told us a good deal of it while he escorted us here, said you could fill in the blanks when you had a chance. Some of it was pretty unbelievable."

"Oh good, I trust him to tell you a pretty accurate version."She says as he slowly starts putting new bandages on her."I'll tell you the rest as soon as we get in a good comfortable place."

"And eat?"Conner asks hopefully."I only had breakfast this morning, and was gonna eat as soon as we got back. I'm very very hungry."As if to prove his point, his stomach gives off a very audible rumble.

"Yes, and eat silly dragon."She says, her stomach echoing the same way.

"Yay."Conner says, still sleepy, and the hat falls forward a tiny bit down his forehead. Cricket flinches seeing it, but doesn't react other than that, not wanting to draw attention to the fact she was uncomfortable seeing it, and the memories it brought up. Dis sees it but merely files it away for later, not wanting to cause the girl any added discomfort."Then I can tell you about everything Thranduil and Legolas taught me."

"That would be helpful."Cricket says, pulling on her dress gingerly, then slipping on the shoes, already feeling better now that she was wearing clean clothes."Katla said the sleep helped catch us up, but it would be nice to not have any surprises."

"Who is Katla?"Dis asks this time, confused as no one else had came in the room while the girl had been asleep. Curious as well, Dawn waits for an answer as well.

"Katla is.."

"She's a dragon."Conner says cheerfully, having found a piece of lembas bread in his pocket."She likes to talk to us when we're asleep."

"Um...what? Aren't all the other dragons dead?"

"They are as far as we know."Cricket says with a sigh, taking the small bit of lembas that Conner hands her with a smile."Katla is the spirit and...I guess memory of the dragon that was bonded to Legolases mother. When Smaug merged his bond with mine, I think she passed on with him. Whenever we sleep, her and Smaug like to interact with us, pass on helpful bits of information, comfort us when we need it, things like that. Katla appeared to me when I disappeared from the battle at the mountain, warned me everything wouldn't be quite right when I made it home.."At that she drifts off, noticing her mother going pale next to her.

"That's amazing."Dis says, eyes wide."I didn't know they could do that."

"Not many people do. I would have talked about it with the others, but at the time most of them were...otherwise occupied."At that, Oin looks away, ashamed."But that's in the past, there's no war or gold sickness keeping me from talking to everyone this time. Or, at least that I know of."

"No war like there was last time, no."Oin says, going to his cabinets and grabbing a couple of things."Just roving orcs for the most part, though the nobles could beat them out from their whining alone."He walks over now that she has finished dressing and hands her mother a couple of things."This is for her to take tonight, right before sleep to enhance the healing process. If you take a bath, put this on right after, then cover with these fresh bandages. Other than that, don't let the lads run you ragged, lest you end up here a lot earlier. You can leave now, if you're feeling up to it."

"You're a lot nicer to her than you are my boys."Dis says with a smirk.

"Aye, well I don't expect to see her every other day with a new injury."Oin says, smirking back.

"Well, I'll keep them from overtaxing her. They know better than to mess with me when it comes to injuries, whether it's theirs or someone elses."

"I'll trust you can. Now, you better go show them you're ok, they're probably all driving each other crazy, and the last thing we need is a stress induced fight, especially with all the princes we have in the room."

"Thank you Oin."

"You're welcome lass. Now shoo."  
*********************************************

When the door opened this time, there was already, in fact, quite a commotion in fact, but not due to her. Luckily, not due to stress induced fighting either, and the elf regiment was merely standing to the side and watching with amused smiles on their faces. Dawn, Oin, Dis, Cricket and Conner did the same once they fully exited the room to the sight of Dwalin chasing Nori around the room, Nori laughing while honey drips off the side of Dwalins face, Jace laughing in Donald's lap as he nibbles on a piece of cheese. The elves notice her first because of this, all of their eyes widening as they take in the less bloody sight of her, Legolases eyes crinkling in pleasure and relief as well.

"What's going on here?"Dis exclaims loudly, though with a smile on her face."I'm gone for 20 minutes and you turn into children? Here I though Cricket here was going to have responsible escorts to show her around the mountain! What if she has a misstep, or gets dizzy from her injuries, and you are too busy horsing around to catch her if she falls?"

All of the heads turn towards them as they hear this and stop laughing at the two, who stop in their tracks as well and stare blankly for a couple of seconds. It's finally broken when Jace gives an excited yell and jumps from Donald's lap, running to Cricket and hugging her legs tightly."Sissy! I was so scared, but you woke up! And you look so pretty!"

"Thank you Jace."Cricket says softly, lowering herself slowly and hugging him back. Seeing Conner peek curiously at Jace from around her arm, she gets an idea."Jace, I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Conner. Conner, this is Jace. Conner, since Jace doesn't know much about the mountain, do you think you could be his friend and show him around?"

"Uh huh."Conner says shyly."Hi Jace. Momma Cricket is your sister?"

"No silly, she's my sissy! Is she your Momma?"

"No, she's my bond mate, but I've always called her Momma Cricket cuz my real momma is dead, and she took care of me instead."Conner says a bit sadly.

"I'm sorry your momma died. Would you like to share my sissy with me? I'm a good sharer, and then we could be bestest friends! Do you know the good hiding spots here?"The last part he whispers to the other child, which causes him to smile."I usually hide in the pantry when I sneak food and don't want my momma to know, but sometimes she finds me."

"I hide in Mister Thorins office sometimes."Conner admits with a giggle."He hides food in there that he shares sometimes."

Everyone watches this silently, glad the two children were getting along, considering how much time they were likely to spend together from this point on. Kili breaks off first, heading to her slowly."Cricket? Are you going to be ok?"

She gives him a gentle smile, noticing his nervousness."Hey, just a couple of flesh wounds Kee, nothing to worry too much about. Well, other than the slight bleeding still, and the dizziness, but that's what I'll have help from my brother for, right?"

Getting teary eyed, Kili rushes forward and hugs her tightly, trying to avoid her wounds the best he can."I missed you so much...we all did. Conner tries not to show it, but he was so sad when you left."

"I was too."She said, hugging him back."I couldn't remember who he was, but I could tell something was missing. I had all these faces and names, but had no idea what they meant to me, why I was so sad every time I looked at them. I don't plan on ever forgetting again."She looks at the rest of the dwarves standing around her and smiles broadly."Are all of you gonna stand there gaping, or come over here and give me a hug?"This causes the floodgates to open, all all of her dwarves rush forward for one massive group hug, some of them more insistent than others to get close to her, all of them just as happy to see her ok. Dis and Dawn inch around to stand next to Donald, watching with a bemused look on his face, the same as the elves.

"I should tell you, my youngest apparently adopted her into our family the last time she was here."Dis says to the watching mother."I found out a couple of hours myself. The night before the battle started, he made her his sister, and she made it so Conner could stay with him when she left."

"Oh...is that good, or bad?"

"Depends who you ask, I suppose. I personally have no problem with it, she seems like a fine young woman, and I've always wanted a daughter, even if not my own blood. It doesn't mean that you aren't considered her mother anymore, just consider us her extended family. Some of the nobles might take an exception to it, however, considering she would be a lesser sort of princess now, and would have authority over them to an extent."

"You know, my father will just try and use that as another reason why she should marry me."Legolas says thoughtfully, walking over to the two mothers."Bad enough he asked her while they were all trapped in our dungeons, but now that she's back? He will likely want to use her as a bargaining chip as well to try and make a stronger alliance between us."

"That sort of thing will obviously be up to her."Dis says with an air of waving it off."Though I must say, you don't seem too upset about it."

"Not exactly, no."Legolas says with a small grin."I told her before, I'd rather my father not play matchmaker with me, and if I was to marry her, I would want to make the offer myself, after an appropriate courting session, going through all the right channels, that sort of thing. I was just warning you what to expect once father finds out that she's back, considering how badly he wants her bloodline and power in our family."

Dis sighs heavily as the hug starts to break apart, giving the woman some air."That sounds like him. Thank you for the warning, I appreciate it. Why don't you break in to welcome her back now that the crowd has died down?"

"I think I will, Lady Dis. Thank you."He says with a small bow, then gracefully winds his ways through the dwarves until he makes his way to Crickets side, giving his own greeting. Conner and Jace run around the large group with smiles on their faces, stopping in front of the two women.

"Are we going to get food soon?"Conner asks, looking up at Dis."Jace is really hungry, and I'm really hungry, and if we don't get food soon I don't know what we're gonna do!"

"Conner said he'll show me all the good stuff I need to try, and then said he wants to show me all his toys, and I asked him if he could show me some more magic tricks! He said he had to ask permission first though."

Conner looks up a bit guiltily at Dis."Is it ok to show him some of what I can do? Please? He already saw me change when me and Momma Cricket got back together, so it's not like I have to keep things a secret from him. It would be nice to have a friend I don't have to hide from."

"I..uh...have you asked Cricket yet? I don't see how it could be a problem as long as you do it in private."

"Asked me what?"Cricket says, finally making her way back to her family and Dis, the other dwarves giving her space but still close by. Dis explains the situation and Cricket smiles, eyes twinkling."Of course, I don't have a problem at all, as long as you do like Lady Dis said and keep it to the privacy of your room. "Speaking of that, where exactly are we sleeping? I have a feeling I won't be able to stay on my feet very long, and would rather eat where I can enjoy your company and speak freely...and sit comfortably. And I'm not sure my family really needs to be around the rest of the mountain until they kind of get used more to all of you. I trust all of you to kind of prepare them for the more...extreme dwarves."She says, getting nods of understanding from the rest of the group, and chuckles from the visiting elves.

"Aye, we'll help get em sorted out."Dwalin says, finally wiping the honey off off his face."Not only that, but I can make sure they have some sort of guard with them whenever they roam around the mountain, a guard or one of us."

"Thank you."Cricket says to the normally gruff dwarf gratefully."That would be wonderful."

"No problem lass."

"We actually have rooms set up for you, as well as your family."Balin says gently to her."Thorin had me set up the guest suites built for our larger visitors. Your room has a smaller adjoining room with a child sized bed."He says to her mother and stepdad."And for now, yours is right down the hall from theirs, in the royal wing."

"What do you mean for now?"Cricket asks, a bit confused."And royal wing? Really?"

"Really."Balin says smiling, knowing her concerns.

"And the reason you might not be staying their long,"Fili says, gaining her attention."Is because once you heal more and won't get tired walking around, you could take over the Dragon Knight quarters."

There is silence from her for about ten seconds."You mean...he finished them?"She finally says, a bit in shock."I had kinda forgotten about asking for that."

"He did."Kili says proudly."We didn't even have to remind him too ofton about it, or badger him into it."

"Not only that, but the rest of the apartments were finished as well."Fili continues."He finished them off, had quite a bit left over, then went to both Rohan and Gondor and rebuilt them there as well, not explaining why, only saying he wanted to do his part to clean up a piece of history now that he had his own home back."

"That's amazing."She says, eyes wide."I never would have thought he would do something like that, considering how he was the last couple of times we...interacted. I know most of it was the gold sickness, but that kind of thing is still hard to forget. So Conner and I have apartments everywhere?"

"You do. I've only see the ones here and at Thanduils palace, but they're all really nice looking, and made so Conner can stay in it in his real form if he wanted to."Kili says with a large smile, which falters once Cricket sways a little bit, Fili and Nori both grabbing an arm gently and helping her stay upright."Are you ok?"

"Yea, just a little dizzy all of a sudden."She says, grateful for the strong arms keeping her upright."Might be best if we go ahead and head to those rooms now. Is there any way we can have food brought up to them? The kids do need to eat, and I'm pretty sure I need to before I pass out."

"Of course."Dis says immediately, falling into her Mother Bear mode, Dawn and Donald watching on silently as they assume she knows best in this situation."Kili, Fili, you two stay on either side of her and make sure she doesn't fall over. Balin, you lead the way and show us what rooms you had set up, go ahead and take us to hers first. Dwalin, do you mind going to the kitchens and bringing up some food for everyone?"

"Not at all lady."Dwalin says, looking over at Nori with a smirk."Come on sneak thief, you're coming down with me and helping carry the food." Nori has no chance to argue, as Dwalin grabs him by the arm and drags him along bodily. The rest of the group separates soon after, merely glad to see that she's ok after worrying for so long in the waiting room. After saying their goodbyes, they all head off to their respective directions except for the five Dis gave instructions to and the elves, who walk up to Cricket as one and give little bows to her.

"We're going to be heading back to the Greenwood."Legolas says to her when they finish bowing."Father would have expected us back by now, and we need to let him know what's going on. I will be back very soon though, not only to check on your health, but for much more merry reasons."He says with a soft smile and a wink. Before she can ask what he means, he leans back over and kisses her hand gently, then lets it back down and exits the room with his honor guard, Fili glaring at him as he leaves, still not happy with the elf prince.  
***********************************************

They get her to her...rather large room without much trouble, though they do get quite a few stares from the dwarves that they pass, curious as to the strangers being escorted by the Durins, Conner and Jace holding one of Dis's hands each and talking animatedly to one another the entire time, already planning some sort of adventure from the bits that Cricket catches from her spot behind them.

They make it to the room none too soon, as the brothers are practically holding her up by the time they enter, and gently deposit her on a large cushy chair in what looks like the sitting room area of her quarters, Dawn and Donald sitting on a love seat next to her and looking at her in concern. All the others take seats as well after checking that Cricket was ok, the children taking spot on the princes laps as they wait for the food to arrive. After assuring Dis that she was more than welcome to stay, Cricket took the chance to finally fill in all the spots Dwalin couldn't, wanting to do it while she was still awake and it was fresh on her mind, only skipping the more..intimate spots in her adventures, for which Fili look extremely grateful. Balin had excused himself once they had made it to her room, showing the her families on the way to hers, saying he needed to meet with Thorin and let him know her progress, since he hadn't had a chance to make it back since she had arrived.

Nori and Dwalin arrived halfway through the story with the food, and after taking a brief interlude to get it all put out, Nori and Dwalin taking seats themselves(really, how many seats did one room need?), she finished up the story, every once in a while pausing to take a bite or a drink herself. By the time she's done, everyone has finished their food and is lounging in their seats thoughtfully, all except for the boys who made a cot on the floor while they were eating and had fallen asleep on it once they had finished, much to the amusement of everyone there.

"I must admit, it sounds different coming from you, a bit more believable."Dis says after Cricket finally ends her story at the point she literally disappeared from the middle earth.

"It's a good thing I know you're not the type to tell tall tales."Donald says, face a bit pale."Otherwise I'm not sure how I would react to all that, even with us actually being here. You just...put yourself in so much danger. What would have happened if you had died? Would you come back a corpse?"

"I don't know."She says quietly, lowering her eyes."I didn't have much of a choice though, did I? And I wasn't going to let them down, not when I was told they couldn't make it without me. I have no regrets, and I'm sticking to that."

"And we're proud of you for what you did."Donald replies, Dawn nodding in reply."Your momma raised you right for you to risk your neck to help people and not think twice about it."

"We just wish you didn't have to do it alone."Dawn adds in.

"She wasn't alone."Kili says, Fili agreeing with him."We made sure she was never alone, tried to keep her safe and happy as long as we were around her."

"And if they weren't with her, one of us was."Nori says."To the very end, she was never alone."

"Though I will say, she got pretty good at protecting herself."Dwalin adds with a smile."There were several times we didn't even attempt to interfere, just watched her make her move. I for one was never disappointing."

"You were a good teacher."She says, smiling at the gruff dwarf.

"So, I have a question."Dawn says out of the blue."What happened to Bilbo?"She knew what happened in the book, but considering what had changed from what she knew, it had been bugging her what had happened to the little hobbit.

The four companions faces fall, and they look back and forth at one another before Fili finally speaks." was found a day later by Beorn and Gandalf, having gotten knocked out during the battle and somehow wasn't seen while they were searching the battlegrounds. He stayed with the elves for a couple of days recovering, then was escorted home by Beorn and Gandalf. He wrote us a note, which he sent via the elf prince, saying he was very glad to have helped us recover our home, but that it was time for him to return to his own. He told us to stop by anytime, and that tea was at four if we did, but the only one that has gotten the chance to go by is Balin. He said that other than having to buy back a great deal of his furniture and loosing his reputation, Mr. Baggins was doing quite well. He seemed sad whenever Thorin was mentioned though."

"He misses him."Cricket says softly, causing Dis to look at her in surprise.

"He won't show it, but Thorin misses him as well."Dwalin says back at her, causing everyone to go quiet once more, listening to the two children snoring.

After a while, Dis speaks up once more."So. I don't know if anyone has done it yet, most likely not due to the events that preceded it, but I would like to formally welcome you into our family."She says, causing Cricket, Fili and Kili to look up at her in surprise."I know Thorin was less than pleased that you did it without his permission, Kili, but I'm quite proud of you for it, and think it was the right decision to make. In fact, after you take a chance to finally bathe in the hot springs here, I would be extremely pleased if you would allow me to braid the family bead into your hair."

Her boys look speechlessly at her."I would consider it an honor, Lady Dis."

"Please, call me Dis."

"Dis then. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure. Of course, that means I now have to introduce you as my adopted daughter at the Treaty Renewal Feast next month, but you should have no problem with that."She says, a grin lighting up her face as the princes groan.

"Um, the what?"

"Every three years we agreed to renew our treaties with our various allies all at the same time, hosting a celebration for it in a different realm each time. We offered to have it here first to show off the work that has gone into bringing the mountain back to its original splendor, and all of the Durins will be announced at the beginning of the celebration, as well as the rest of the main parties, before the feasting and dancing that will proceed the signing the next day. As a member of our family, not to mention an integral reason the treaties were allowed to be created in the first place, you will be introduced along with us."

"But..."

"No buts, if Kili and Fili can't get out of it, neither can you."

"It's best not to argue with her when she sets her mind on something lass."Dwalin says, leaning over with a grin."She's a lot like her twin in that respect."

"Yea, we've tried to talk her out of it several times."Fili adds.

"Fili, you're Thorins heir, of course you can't skip it."Dis says with a snort."And it's only fair that Kili goes if you go. I'll be there as well, and you don't hear me complaining."

Both the boys sulk a bit but don't say anything else, causing Dis to smile in victory."Now, I think since everyone has eaten and relaxed, I think we should follow the boys example and get some rest. It's been a trying day for us all, and tomorrow we can start fresh, maybe try to figure out why you were brought here again."

"That would be nice, seeing as we can actually stay in one place this time and do research. Mom, are you and Donald going to be ok in your room?"

"As long as we don't have any chance of being attacked for some random reason, we should be fine, especially if our room is even half this size."

"It is half this size, but still very comfortable."Dis assures them."We have some clothes for you to sleep in tonight, and tomorrow we can take you to get some clothes fit to you from our tailors, so you fit in a bit better."

"Not only that, but this entire floor is being constantly patrolled by both my guards, and Nori's spy network."Dwalin adds in, Nori nodding next to him.

"I assume it's ok to go ahead and leave Conner in here tonight?"Dis asks Cricket as Donald lifts Jace up from the floor, still snoring."He doesn't move around that much in his sleep, so you shouldn't have to worry about him accidentally knocking into one of your injuries while tossing and turning. Not only that, I think waking up with you still here will make him very happy."

"Yea, that's fine."Cricket says as Kili takes Conner to her bed and places him in it."The beds definitely big enough."

"Perfect. Would you and your mother like to go ahead and take a bath in the hot springs in the morning? That way we can clean your wounds and put the new bandages on before you greet the rest of the mountain for breakfast, and Conner, Jace and your stepfather can go do the same with Kili. I need to go down myself, and that way we can kill two birds with one stone."

"Sure, that sounds great."

"Then can we show her the mountain?"Kili asks excitedly.

"If you like, as long as one of the members of the company is with her at all times, as well as her family."

"Just don't take too long."Dwalin says with a frown."I have something I'd like to show her as well, and we need to fill her in on what all has happened since she left."

"There will be time for all of that."Dis says sternly, shooing them from the room."Right now she needs her rest. I know all of you are happy to see her, but she won't disappear if you take your eyes off of her."

"You don't actually know that."Nori mutters, and Dis throws a glare his way."Just saying, we had no warning last time either."

"Be that as it is, none of us have any control over what happens, so all we can do is take it a step at a time. Will you allow Dwalin to escort you to your rooms?"She directs at Crickets family, and Dawn nods.

"Yes, thank you."Dawn turns to Cricket, still seated, and leans over to give her a gentle hug, then kisses her forehead."Goodnight honey, I love you. I still don't really know if I understand everything that's going on, but I'm so glad you're ok. We'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight mom."She replies, watching as they exit the room followed by Dwalin, who had to pull Nori from the room.

"Boys, you need to leave as well."Dis says gently, and the princes surge forward and both give her hugs as well, kissing her on either side of her cheeks before rising back up with grins.

"We'll see you in the morning Cricket."Fili says with a soft smile."Then we can finally show you the apartments that were rebuilt for you and Conner."

"As long as they aren't up too many stairs."She says jokingly."Otherwise I might not make it."

"Oh, we can always carry you."Kili says with a grin, before being pushed out of the room by Dis, who shuts the door behind them before turning to face the rapidly drifting off woman.

"Come on, Balin had a sleeping gown brought for you."She says, helping Cricket up and leading her to the bedroom."I'll help you get it on before leaving you to sleep."

"Thank you."Cricket says gratefully as Dis helps her remove the elven gown, her forearm not wanting to comply when she tries to remove it herself. It was strange, needing to have someone to help her do simple things like change clothes just because of an injury, but she was glad that the lady was willing, as there was no way she would be able to alone at the moment. Once the dress is off and the sleeping gown on, Dis helps Cricket to the large opulent bed, watches as she swallows the vial that Oin gave to her to take before she sleeps, then blows out all the candles, leaving only a strange glowing stone as the only light in the room.

"To your right is a chamber to relieve yourself in if you have the need."Dis says, pointing to the room closest to the stone."The waste is sent straight into the lava beneath the mountain. If you need anything at all, my chamber is right next to yours, the boys a little farther down, though I do suggest coming to me first. Other than that, is there anything you need before I head to bed myself?"

"No not at all."Cricket says sleepily."Thank you so much for your help today, keeping them from overexerting me. You've been so nice to me, and I haven't done anything to deserve it. Not only that, but I have a good feeling that you've been helping Kili with Conner, and I can't express my thanks enough for that."

"Cricket, the way I see it, you not only saved my sons lives, but you kept my hard headed brother from making a a mistake he would regret the rest of his life."Dis says softly to the young woman."You deserve every bit of help you get. Now get some rest, because I have a feeling that my boys plan on trying to keep you to themselves for as long as they can tomorrow, and you know how they can be."

"That I do."Cricket says, closing her eyes as Dis heads to the door."Goodnight Dis."

"Goodnight Cricket."

The last thought that Cricket has before drifting off to sleep, is that she needs to try and go visit Bilbo, maybe even convince him to come back with her and visit the mountain.  
*****************************

"Honey, I just had a thought."Dawn says softly to her husband as they both settle down in the large soft bed, all the lights out.

"What is it?"

"She had her miscarriage right after when she would have returned here from the first time, right?"

"Right.."

"But she didn't remember even having sex in the first place to have gotten pregnant."

"What are you thinking?"

"Is it possible she got pregnant here? And if so..who was it? Did they know she was pregnant?"

They both go silent as the thought goes through both of their minds.  
*******************************

"Is she ok?"Thorin asks from his armchair, glass of whiskey in his hand.

"She is. Tired and healing, but ok."Dis says, having stopped by his office before heading to bed."The boys are excited to show her the mountain tomorrow, and her nephew and Conner have already became fast friends."

"That's good."

"I'm also braiding the family bead into her hair tomorrow."

Thorin raises his eyebrow at that."Is that so?"

"Yes. I approve of her being let into the family, and once she's healed I'm going to have a dress made for her for the Treaty Feast."

"Are you not worried about how the nobles will treat her?"

"Not really. I've heard how she handled you and the boys on your little quest, and think she will do just fine with them once she has healed up. They try anything, they won't know what hit them, maybe even literally."

Thorin snorts at the thought, taking a sip of the amber colored liquid, knowing she's right.

She usually is.

"The elf prince also had a little warning for me."She adds in, watching her twins face."About his father."

"Oh? And what was it this time?"

"That he most likely will try and compromise for her hand in marriage to Legolas again to try and solidify an alliance with us, or at least that will be the reasons he gives us."

"What did you tell him?"

"That anything like that will be completely up to her."Dis says with a smirk."I'm pretty sure the last thing on her mind is marriage, but the prince did assure me that if he did want to marry her, he would go about it the right way, and not let his father call the shots."

"Please, I've been reliably informed that anyone who wants to court her would have to go through the entire company for approval."Thorin says, finishing off his glass."It will be very hard to gain approval from Dwalin alone, much less any of the others."

"Are you going to hide from her forever?"

"No..I just assumed she would want to see the rest of the company, connect back with them, before I would see her. They were much closer to her after all."

"Of course."Dis says, eyebrows raised."Well, she will be at breakfast in the morning, if you feel like finally letting her see you, as well as the rest of her family. It might be the only chance you get, as the boys plan on hogging most of her attention tomorrow, though Dwalin insisted he needed to show her something."

Thorins eyes darken."I know what he wants to show her. She may end up a lot worse tomorrow night than she was today, if he's taking her where I think he is."

Dis looks at him curiously."Where is he taking her?"

"The Tombs of those lost in the battle for the mountain."


	5. Breakfast at Erebor

**Sorry if this is a shorter chapter than usual, but I felt bad for making you wait so long and wanted to put something out. My muse took a vacation for a while, but now I'm back on track.**

Cricket woke to the feeling of a small body cuddled into hers, reminding her before she even had a chance to open up her eyes that she really was back, and that Conner was still asleep next to her, most likely feeling, as she was, more relaxed than he had in a long time, if his deep snoring was anything to go by. Finally opening her eyes, she smiles softly at the sight of the small child next to her, mouth wide open and curly hair sticking every which way, mark vivid on his face as the glamour he usually keeps up to cover it isn't needed. She notices that while he has grown a bit taller, he otherwise hadn't aged much in this form, wondering if it was just a dragon thing or if he simply was looking around the same age on purpose. Maybe it was simply to fit in better with the other children in the mountain, though from the sound of it he didn't feel like he quite fit in with them anyway. That was probably the reason he seemed so surprised when Jace offered to be his friend, which Cricket was very grateful for.

Before she can think on it for too long, there is a noise in the far side of the room, and turning over slightly she looks to see the door to her room opening, revealing a sleep rumpled Dis peeking in."Oh good, I was hoping you were awake." The dwarf dam says with a smile, walking into the room with a robe clasped around herself and settling into a chair next to the bed."Did you sleep well?"

"Very well."Cricket says, going to stretch and wincing as pain as she remembers her wounds in the worst possible way."Holy crap that was a bad idea, no more stretching for me for a while."

"I imagine not."Dis says with a halfway amused look in her eyes."Not that you could help it, stretching is a natural thing to do when you first wake up."

"I guess."Cricket says as she gingerly sits up in the bed, Conner turning over with a groan."It still hurts though. Probably a good thing we're going to be changing my bandages soon, I might be bleeding again."

"Wounds like you have tend to do that."Dis says, standing up with a frown and throwing back the blankets covering the girl. Sure enough there is a small dot of blood bleeding through the stomach area of the gown, not a great amount but just enough to show through."Sure enough, you did tear a bit. It's not that bad though, believe me. Once, Fili tore out a row of stitches in his leg because he decided to run after Kili for stealing his sticky bun, and we had to redo the entire thing, then keep him halfway drugged until it was decently healed because he couldn't leave well enough alone, him or Kili. They always seemed to think that they were immortal, that they could still act the same even though they were hurt."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."Cricket says, lightly tickling behind Conners ear to try and wake him up."I guess I'm lucky they aren't here right now jumping on the bed then?"

Dis smirks at that."They know better to do so when I specifically tell them not to, as foolhardy as they might be. They also know they will see you for sure at breakfast, so they have a reason to be patient. Do you think you will be able to walk to the hot springs without them?"

"I should be able to, or at least I hope I can."Cricket says, smiling as Conner finally starts to wake up, blinking his bright blue eyes at her."Good morning sunshine."

"You're still here."Conner says softly with a smile of his own, then rubs the sleep gunk out of his eyes."It wasn't a dream. I was afraid that it was again."

"No baby, I'm still here."Conner crawls into her lap and puts his hands around her neck, hugging her tightly as she leans her head against his."How did I get so lucky to have hatched a sweet a dragon as you?"

"It's all the cookies and cakes Kili and Fili give me."Conner says with a giggle, looking up at her mischievously."I especially like the ones with frosting."

"See, now I know some of me rubbed off on you."She says, ruffling his soft hair as Dis looks on, pleased by how she acts around the boy."I'll have to make you a cake when I'm better, though I have a feeling I need to talk to a couple of princes about giving you too many sweets. Haven't you ever gotten a tummy ache from eating too many?"

"That he has."Dis says with a laugh, causing Conner to blush and hide his face in Crickets gown."A couple of times actually, always coming to me when he does for comfort. Though, in his defense, my boys do the same thing still, usually the same time that he does. I make them go straight to Master Oin however, they're much too old for me to still rub their stomachs and croon soft lullabies to them for comfort."

"I appreciate you doing it for Conner, then."Cricket says as she throws the blankets off the dragon trying to make a nest back inside them."Someone needed to be there for him since I couldn't."

Dis smiles at that as she gathers together the clothes that Kili had brought to Cricket the day before, along with a soft looking robe, then places them inside a leather bag she had brought with her."I only did what any mother would do for a hurting child, though I will admit it did bring me a certain sense of joy to have one to hold again, what with my boys much too big for it now. Now, what do you say we pick up your mother and nephew, then all head to the hot springs for a much needed bath?"  
*********************

The hot springs were everything that had been boasted and more. After dropping by the room to pick up her family, as well as a half asleep Dwalin who just so happened to be checking on the security of the halls and was nice enough to offer Cricket a strong and steady arm to hold on to in case of dizziness, they all made their way to one of the three hot springs of the mountain. Theirs was luckily regulated to the royal family, the visitors that stay in the rooms of the guest hallway the family was staying in(usually visiting dignitaries and other important people), the military heads and the rest of the original company, so there was no chance of people coming in that they didn't want. the other two, much larger in size but not quite as intricate as the one they were using, were on the other side of the mountain and split between the nobles and shopkeepers, then the army and regular citizens, to keep the peace between the nobles who thought they were better than everyone else. The springs they were using were split three ways; one for the women, one for the men, and one for those who had no qualms sharing a bath space with the opposite sex, each hosting a variety of bathing oils and soaps to keep clean with.

Once they arrived, Dwalin took Donald and the boys to the male side of the hot springs while Dis took Cricket and her mother to the female side, trusting the two men could handle the boys on their own as Cricket needed to to gently wash up her wounds, as well as be measured for her new clothes once she was out. The tailor was to take care of the two women as soon as they finished bathing, as well as move on to the males once she was done, then work speedily to have at least one outfit each for the family before the day was out. Luckily the tailor in question had a large quantity of people working for her and it wouldn't be much of a problem, and Conner had a large selection of outfits that fit Jace he could share. Cricket of course still had the various clothes she had collected the first time she was here, but her mother and step-father weren't as lucky, and would be attended to first.

While Cricket peels off the soiled bandages and washes her wounds with a poultice that Dis gave her, gingerly pressing it against the wound and wincing slightly as it burns at first but then dulls into a mint like tingle, Dis explains the different soaps and oils to her mother, all of them giggling silently as they hear a commotion from the male area of the springs. The boys were obviously having a grand time if the sounds of splashing and laughter indicated anything, and every once in a while they would hear Donald and Dwalin trying to stay out of the line of fire. At one point they even saw bubbles flying up into the air and over the wall separating the areas after a particularly violent sounding splash, causing Dis to loudly call over and ask if everything was ok. Apparently Jace and Conner had conspired together, each climbing on top of an adult then jumping towards each other and into the water at the same time, cannon balling and causing a splash of massive proportions, which in turn made the bubbles from the soap they had poured in fly into the air and cover everything around them. Even the guards couldn't help but snicker at the sight of their commander covered in soapy bubbles, and Cricket wished she could see it for herself.

Once she was done, the new bandages on and her measurements taken by a grizzled old dwarf woman who didn't even bother to touch her, but merely gave her and her mother a keen once over and and jotted down some numbers before heading over to the male side without a word, Dis and her mother helped her get her dress on then waited for the boys to finish up, sitting in some cushioned chairs kept alongside the bathing area. When the guys finally emerged, the girls had to stifle their laughter as Dwalin still had bubbles in his beard, an amused look on his face as the boys run gleefully up to Cricket and the others, Conners curls wildly bouncing into his face as Jaces hair was spiked all over, grins on both of their faces. After listening to their combined stories of what they were doing in the bath house and how the bubbles went so high and how they were super hungry now, Dwalin took Crickets arm and helped her up, then proceeded to escort the family to breakfast. Dis briefed the others on how to act while around the other dwarves on the walk there, more so the adults as Conner would be around Jace most of the time and everyone knew kids could be completely off the wall and wouldn't pay as much attention.

Luckily for them the dining hall was mostly empty, so there were no troubles as they sat down at the main table and started filling their plates, Jace and Conner grabbing half a plate of bacon each and stuffing their faces before they even finish putting food on their plates. Dis shakes her head but doesn't argue as she most likely sees this every morning, putting a balanced combination of foods on her plate before starting in herself. Cricket laughs to herself as she sees Dwalin putting as much bacon on his plate as the boys do along with a healthy serving of eggs and biscuits and a large cup of what looks like milk, managing to get through most of her breakfast before there is a large whoop from the entrance way and two bodies squeeze their way on either side of her and sling an arm around her shoulders.

"Good morning!"Kili says happily as he steals a slice of bacon off of her plate.

"Did you sleep well?"Fili asks as a glass of juice is placed in front of him.

"We plan on taking you on the best tour ever!"

"How are you wounds doing?"

"Boys give her some space!"Dis chastises, and they both blush and start piling on food, taking their arms off her shoulder but staying close next to her."She can't exactly answer if you don't five her a chance to!"

"Calm down Dis, I can assure you that she's used to it."Says another voice from the entrance, and everyone turns their head to see Thorin walking into the hall. Well, everyone except Dwalin, who continues to eat and merely raises his eyes to acknowledge the kings presence."She wouldn't have lasted half as long on the quest if she didn't get used to that quickly."He makes his way to sit next to his sister, who gives him a small glare as he starts fixing his plate.

"I don't care, they need to give the poor girl a chance to actually answer."

"Sorry Amad."Fili says, Kili nodding as the two young boys on the opposite side of the table giggle at them getting scolded by their mother.

Thorin chuckles softly before looking up at Cricket."I'm glad to see you're recovering from your wounds, you looked close to death when Kili brought you in."

"Thank you."Cricket says after swallowing her food and washing it down with some juice."Oin really knows his stuff when it comes to healing, I couldn't have been in better hands."

"I couldn't agree more. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up, I was finishing up getting your rooms ready and was making sure the guards that saw you and Conner..rejoin..weren't going to be spreading the tale just yet."

"It's fine, I figured you wouldn't want that going around. A kings job is never done, right?"

"Unfortunately not."He says, taking a sip and turning to her family."And how are you finding the mountain so far, is your room to your liking?"

"It's fine."Dawn answers honestly, finishing up her breakfast and wiping her mouth."The room is enormous, much bigger than what I expected, and it helps that Jace has his own little area. Oh, and the hot springs are amazing. We can't thank you enough for your hospitality."

"Can't argue the portions either."Donald says from his own plate of food, only opting for sausage instead of bacon."Much better than any hotel breakfast I've ever had."

"I'm glad you like it. Dwalin tells me you'll be taking a tour of the mountain today?"

"And the newly rebuilt Dale if we get a chance!"Kili says around a mouth full of eggs.

Thorin frowns, causing Cricket to relax a bit at seeing such a normal expression on his face, not knowing how tense she had actually been at seeing him."Isn't that a bit far for the first day, especially since she's still healing? She still needs people to walk with her after all, and that much walking might not actually be good for her."

Fili finishes a mouthful of bread and clears his throat."I've taken care of that, actually. We're only going to hit the major sites of the mountain, then I have a wagon to carry us all to Dale. The only walking will be in the market place there and around the mountain, and even then we'll be there to help in case she gets a bit dizzy."

"You're taking her to the marketplace?"Dis asks with an amused look on her face.

"Well, yes."

Kili breaks in from tossing bits of bread at the giggling boys across the table."Last time she was here she made quite a stir in the Laketown marketplace, telling the children stories every day and giving the venders gold to help speed the progress of our stuff along. They were pretty grateful considering the Master expected them to do it all for free, and know she helped during the battle for the mountain, so we thought we'd take her to see the city rebuilt."

"That's a good plan."Thorin says as he butters a piece of toast."It will give everyone a chance to get some things in their own size before the tailor finishes. I'll give you some gold to take with you so they can do a bit of shopping."

Fili pales a bit."Um, shopping? We just wanted to show her around..."

"Nonsense."Dis says with a sly little smile."You're taking them all there anyway, so you might as well do double duty."

"Plus she'll be a lot less likely to be attacked there."Dwalin says after a loud burp, causing everyone to give him a weird look except for Cricket."What? Most of the shopkeepers will probably recognize her, as well as the soldiers around the city. I trust them more than our own nobles, and most of them would stab you in the back for a bag of coins."

"It would be nice to not be attacked by something."Cricket says thoughtfully, causing her mother to choke on air.

"Are you sure it's safe to leave?"Donald asks as he pats Dawn on the back."Because I don't find it very comforting when you talk so idly about her getting attacked like it's a common thing."

"She's safer than she was the first time she was here."

"Plus you'll have us with you."Kili says as he smiles at the worried family."We'll protect you."

Cricket snorts, looking across the table to see Conner and Jace whispering to one another."Hey you two, what's the big secret over there? Share with everyone else if you don't mind."

Conner blushes, but Jace looks at her with a large grin."Conner was telling me about all the good stuff at the marketplace, can we have some of their cookies? And can I have a sword like him? And when do I get to go play with him and see his dragon form? And can we go flying? And..."

Jace is stopped from talking by Dis stuffing a biscuit in his mouth, causing Thorin to smile, shaking his head."That's better. Jace, we have to keep quiet about Conners other form, not everyone would be as accepting about as you, do you understand?"Jace nods, chewing the biscuit."Good. Now, as soon as we get a chance, and Cricket is feeling better, I'm sure Conner will be more than happy to take you out to where he usually trains with Kili and show off what he can do, right?"

"Right!"Conner says happily, giving Jace a high five.

"And I'm sure if you're good, Cricket will buy you a treat at the marketplace. As for the sword..."She glances over at Dwalin, then Jaces parents who give her a brief nod."That will be a discussion you need to have with you mother, father and Dwalin. I'm sure Conner would like to have someone his age to train with."

"It would be easier for him."Dwalin agrees."And on that note, I need to be heading to the training grounds. Apparently I have some high bred noble sons to beat into shape. You two.."He looks over at the princes and gives them his best glare."You better be on your guard the entire time you're with them, do I make myself clear? Don't make me regret not sending guards with you, or better yet, going myself, or I'll make you wish you had never picked up a sword in the first place, understand?"

"Understood sir."The two of them say, dread clear in their voices. The rest of breakfast is finished in a comfortable silence, everyone filling their faces until their stomachs are completely full. As they all stand to leave and begin the day, Thorin speaks up.

"Cricket, might I have a word with you for a moment?"She pauses, a bit of skepticism on her face before nodding once."Thank you. Kili, Fili, please escort the rest of them to the main balcony of the mountain so they can see the view, and I'll escort Cricket there as we speak."After the boys nod, leading the family out of the room, Conner looking back and smiling at her before leaving with his new friend. Thorin waits a couple of seconds before offering Cricket his arm, and slowly starts walking out of the room with her, making sure to offer support just in case."Thank you for letting me speak with you privately."He says quietly as they walk through the halls."I was afraid you would refuse."

"It's no problem, though if I remember correctly you were the one who didn't like talking with people, remember?"Cricket says with a laugh, and Thorin can't help but give a guilty smile.

"I'm afraid you have a very good point, and a correct one at that. I seem to remember you getting us out of a couple staits by doing what I refused to do."He looks down at the ground guiltily."I...wanted to apologize for that. For that and a number of other things I feel like were mistakes on my part."

"Not all of it was your fault."She says as they make their way up a flight of stairs."The gold sickness contributed to a lot of what you're apoligizing for."

"Some, but not all. I refused to talk to either group of elves, which resulted in us getting chased by orcs then put in the dungeons by that bastard of an elf king. I refused to listen to Gandalf about the farmhouse, resulting in our being captured by trolls. I seem to remember you helping to rescue us two of those times, and that was before we made it to the Erebor. And while the gold sickness did help contribute to what I did at Erebor, it was still brought up from what I actually felt. The pride, the ego, the anger, the greed, it was all from me. Just, magnified."

"And while you did stuff that I hope that you feel regret for.."She says, cocking an eyebrow at the dwarf king as he leads her through the mountain and causing him to flush.""It looks like you got past all that, and that you're doing a lot better. I notice that Conner is still around, so you hopefully don't still think he's after your gold. Dis also told me about the feast coming up, where you're going to be resigning the treaties with everyone, so you're trying to keep peace with all your neighbors and keep the trade going."

"I am."He says as they pass a couple of soldiers who look at the two curiously but merely nod their heads in greeting."I built all the Dragon Knight quarters as you asked me to, as well as couple others in cities you've never been that would be prime locations. I even keep Conner and Kili in contact with the bastard king so they can keep up with their training, as much as it pains me to do so."He says, grimacing in distaste, causing her to giggle a bit.

"Ok, so you've tried to make up for everything you did, and you've apologized..which I accept, by the way."She says, pleased by his surprised look and taking the chance to continue."There's one thing I don't get though, and no one seems to have an answer for me. Why haven't you reached out to Bilbo?"She feels him stiffen beside her, and knows she's hit a hard mark."Before the whole mountain incident, you two seemed happy, and it even looked like it was turning into love, if it wasn't already there. I know he would forgive you if you went to him and apologized with your whole heart, but for some reason you haven't. So what's up?"

Thorin looks straight ahead, both of them still stopped in the middle of the hallway, thankfully empty, and sighs deeply before turning to look at her."Because I don't feel like I deserve his forgiveness."He tells her, sorrow resonating in his blue eyes."I...I cared for him. I cared for him and in my anger I tried to throw him off of the very mountain he risked his life to help us regain. I don't deserve forgiveness from him, as much as I want it."

"But he would give it to you anyway."

"How do you know that? How do you know he wouldn't throw the apology back in my face?"

"Hard to know what he'll do if you don't actually try for it."She says gently to the worried king, chastising him."All you can do is attempt it and hope for the best, that way you'll never be ever to dwell over the what ifs."

Thorin looks at her with an intense expression on his face, considering her words and taking them to heart."I'll..think on what you said. Thank you. For now, we should get you to Kili and Fili, as well as your family. They might worry what I've done to you."The last part he says with a slight smile, one she can't help but return.

"Please, we both know I could take you if you tried anything."

"In your current state?"

"...Okay maybe not so much now, no."She says, causing him to snort and start her back towards their destination."We never did get that spar though. Once I've healed up, I'd like to get it if you don't mind."

"Not at all."He says as they finally make it to the wall, her family looking over the balcony in awe at the land surrounding Erebor."In fact, I'd like nothing more."

"About time Uncle, what took you so long?"Kili asks as Conner and Jace run up to her and grab a hand each, then drag her to the balcony to take a look with them.

"In case you haven't noticed, Kili, she can't exactly go that fast."Thorin says, narrowing his eyes at the dark haired prince."I wasn't going to rush her and risk overtaxing her just to get her here faster, something I hope you take into account today while you're escorting all of them around, otherwise Dwalin will be on you faster than you can say battle axe."He pauses, then continues with a grin much like his twin might have."As well as your mother. I daresay she likes the idea of having a daughter, even if it a grown, adopted one, and won't be pleased if you injure your dear sister."At their worried looks he gives a smile before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a jingling pouch."Use this to buy whatever they need at the marketplace."

"Yes uncle."

"Enjoy yourselves today, and don't be afraid to pick out some things for yourselves while you're out, money isn't an option and we have no idea how long you'll be here, so you might as well be prepared."He tells Crickets family, nodding his head at them."I hate to leave you, but I have a feast of massive proportions to prepare for, and a spymaster to confer with. I will see you all at dinner tonight."

"Thank you, your Majesty."Dawn says, nodding her head at him."You're too kind."

"Bye Mister Thorin!"Jaces yells with a wave, causing Cricket to giggle."Thank you for the cookie money!"Thorin smiles at that, then turns and leaves, an amused glint in his eye as he heads down the stairs.

"This is going to be so much fun."Conner says to Cricket, gripping her hand tightly and smiling at her while Kili and Fili discuss what all to show her today."I've been to the marketplace a couple of times, it has really neat stuff I can't wait to show you and Jace all of it!"

"I can't wait either."She says to the excited child, finger idly messing with the bead and feather that Dis had braided into her hair after they had gotten out of the hot springs, ignoring the tingle coming from behind her ear once more."But remember, you and Jace won't be able to just run around wildly, all right? I need both of you to be really, really good for me, and not run away or rough house or anything like that. Promise?"

"I promise."He says, giving her a firm hug and looking up at her with wide blue eyes."We'll be the bestest ever."

"I know you will."She says, glancing over at the princes who seem to have finally came to an agreement, and are looking over her way excitedly, while her family circles around her and Conner comfortingly."Honestly, it's not you that I'm worried about acting up."


	6. The Grand Tour

To Crickets relief, the princes had been informed by Thorin there were places that weren't really safe for her and her family to tour, so the mines were obviously out, as well as Raven hill due to the climb being almost impossible for Cricket at this time. Dis had already taken them to the hot springs so there was no reason to show that off, while Dwalin had already claimed the honor of taking her to the tombs, so that she may show her respects to the fallen from the battle, as the lads were likely not fit for the task. While depressed about this, Fili and Kili immediately perked back up when they realized they could still show her the library, the main stretch through the mountain where the small shops were kept, the training grounds where Dwalin works his magic with the troops, and the kitchens as they both hoped that Cricket would get the chance to try and cook something from her world soon for everyone.

As they make there way back down the hallway and towards the large building housing both the library and the schooling areas of the mountain, Conner holds her hand, going back and forth between pointing out neat things to both Cricket and Jace and looking up happily at her, though holding on to her hand tightly, as if he worried she would disappear at any moment, like last time. Cricket, feeling his worry, would simply squeeze back gently and reassure him she was still there, though she had no idea if she would actually vanish like last time. All she could do was act like every thing was normal around the two of them, and deal with any crisis's when the time came.

She had actually done a bit of thinking in her sleep the night before, going over everything that she knew so far about what happened after the Hobbit novel back home. Her memory was luckily not a blur this time, with sections being blocked off so she couldn't reveal too much, so she remembered quite a bit. She was pretty well convinced the reason for that was that she had already changed enough without knowing, with several people being alive who shouldn't be, mainly the three Durin males, and the ripples from Conner being hatched. She even had plans to change things further if she was allowed too, for example already planning to help take back the Mines of Moria and warn them to not dig too deeply, so that they don't unearth the Balrog. Getting Bilbo and Thorin back together was also high on her list...actually first on her list...and even though she didn't plan on warning Thorin or the princes ahead of time, she did want to get Nori in on it.

Maybe she could even try and get rid of that damn ring early and save everyone involved a whole lot of heartache. Hell, maybe that was why she was back in the first place. If it actually was she wasn't going to complain, but she desperately wanted to figure out a way to at least keep in touch with Conner this time if sent back home, and try and keep him from missing her as badly as he did the past three years. Of course she would be happier if she could also some how figure out a way to go back and forth between the two worlds whenever she wanted, but the contact with Conner was much higher priority. In the meantime, she would let Kili and Fili show her and her family around, would enjoy the time spent with all her old friends, would argue with them about whether she was a princess with all the perks attached, would get back to completely healthy and make sure no one was hurt under her watch.

Meanwhile, as they walked through the mountain with their princely escorts, they were given all sorts of strange looks from the dwarves they passed while walking to the library, luckily with no stairs to go up and down just yet. Most were just double takes, surprised to see the Men there at all, but some eyed them in suspicion, while others stopped to stare in surprise. One group of what looked like nobles gave them all a look of disdain and sniffed, turning the opposite direction so that they wouldn't have to interact with them. Dawn silently wished they had been given a guard after all when she noticed the few hostile looks they were sent their way, even if no one dared to try and get past the princes leading them though the enormous mountain kingdom. Jace thought it was neat that there were so many short people around, most of them with the biggest beards he had ever seen, even some of the women!

It didn't take too long to get to the library, much to Crickets relief, and as soon as they entered Fili led them to a large oval desk in the center of the building, surrounded by shelves of books and scrolls that had been safe from Smaugs destruction to due the distance from the treasure room and the small hallway through the rock that led to it. Sitting at the desk was an excited Ori who jumped up to greet them the moment he realized it was them, as well as a pretty red-headed female dwarf wearing a pair of gold plated half moon glasses with a puzzled look on her face."You're here!"Ori cried in contagious excitement, running all the way around the desk and grabbing her hand gently, his own stained with ink and dust."I didn't think you would come to visit me so soon, if at all! The library is hardly an exciting place to tour, after all!"

"Of course we came."Cricket said to the young dwarf, giving him a gentle smile."They were giving us a tour of the mountain anyway, and I heard how much work you'd done here after Thorin put you in charge."

"It's amazing."Dawn said in awe as she stared at all the texts surrounding them all, Cricket getting her love of books from her."Are all of these written in your language?"

"Not all, no."Says a bright voice from behind Ori, and they all look to see the female dwarf walking up to them."Some of them are written in Elven, while others are written the the language of Men. However most of them are in fact written in Khuzdul. We have been asked to start translating over some of the texts here for the treaty feast, though."

"Who's this?"Cricket asks a bit teasingly, noticing the blush on Ori's face as he hears the pretty dwarf speak."She must be pretty smart to be working with you, especially in a place like this."

"Oh, yes, um.."Ori stammers a bit nervously."This is Alda. She helps teach the dwarflings their letters, as well as helping me clean and translate over the texts here. Alda, this is Lady Cricket and her family. Lady Cricket is going to be staying here for some time, and was one of the members of the company who helped take back the mountain."

Alda's eyes widen a bit at that, before narrowing to give the young woman a once over, lingering on the bead braided into her hair."This is the Cricket you wrote about in her journal? I must admit, even with your description she isn't quite what I expected. Welcome, my lady...or should I say princess?"

Kili and Fili both grin at that, while Cricket face palms mentally, though winces for real."I would prefer you call me Cricket, though stick with lady if you have to. I had no idea it would be such a big deal when Kili inducted me into his family. The last thing I want is a bunch of people bowing and groveling and kissing up to me just because I'm an adopted Durin."

Alda gives a very real smile at that."As you wish."

"Miss Alda, can I show my friend Jace my study room and desk?"Conner asks the teacher, running over and pulling on her practical dark grey dress, sleeves tied up to her elbows so they don't spill the ink."I want to show him my picture books and where you teach me everything!"

"I don't see why not, as long as you have an escort."

"Momma, can we go see?"Jace asks excitedly, jumping up and down and looking at Dawn pleadingly."I want to see the books, I love books!"

"Of course, I'll even go with you to see it. Maybe you can study with him while you're here."

"Oh, that would be so awesome!"

"Kili, will you go with us to my study room?"Conner asks, turning to the brunette prince."Mister Thorin said we can't go anywhere without one of you, an I don't wanna make him mad."

Kili pouts for a second before nodding, tiny smile on his face."Of course, I's rather not make Uncle mad either. Let's go!" Cricket takes the chance to sit in one of the surprisingly comfy chairs at the large desk, looking at all the opened scrolls around her in wonder while Conner, Kili, Alda, Jace, Donald and Dawn go off to see the study rooms. Ori goes around the desk as well to sit next to her, pulling something gently out of one of the drawers next to him, while Fili hovers nearbye, quickly eyeing the areas she was wounded to make sure none of them were bleeding through yet. Amad had sent him off with a small bag of bandages and poultices, as well as a poin potion just in case all the walking around caused some of the wounds to give her problems, informing him she had shown Dawn how to apply them just in case.

"I have something to show you."Ori says seriously, though she can see an excited glint in his eyes."You know I took notes the entire journey to the mountain three years ago, trying to write down everything that happened to us on our travels."

"Yea, I remember every time we took a rest you were writing in that thing, you're lucky it survived to tell the truth."

"I know."He says, remembering the trip down the river they took in the barrels."A good thing it was the barrels with our gear was sealed, else I would have lost everything. Anyway, when Thorin appointed me to this position, whenever I had a chance I gathered all my notes and writings and started rewriting them in another tome, one I could take my time with and put everything in the order it happened, adding in any little bits I missed on the way."Grinning brightly, he takes the blue fabric covered object off of his lap and places it softly on the desk in front of her, unwrapping it to reveal a large dark leather book, the front etched with a picture of what had to be Erebor, a small dragon circling it."I finished it about four months ago."

"Oh, Ori."She said softly, gently stroking the cover of the book, then opening it to reveal a small copy of the map Gandalf had given to Thorin the begining of the journey, intricate in detail with the words written in the original elven."This is amazing. I'm so proud of you for finishing it, I just wish I could read it."

"Thank you."Ori says with a dark blush that reaches all the way to his ears."But you can read it, actually. I wrote it in the language of Men, in case you ever returned. I wanted you to be able to read it, just as well as everyone else would be able to."

"Really?"She says, opening to book to a random page. Sure enough, all the words are in perfect English(or the language of Men if you prefer), and the page she had opened it to describes the first impression of Beorn to all of the company, as well as his strange collection of animals."Your handwriting is so neat, Ori! You're an amazing writer! When can I read it?"

"If you'd like, I can have it put in your room today, so that you might try and read some of it once you return to it later. Other than Thorin, you'd be the first of the company to read it."

"That would be wonderful, Ori, thank you."She says, closing the book and giving the still blushing Ori a hug from her chair, careful of her shoulder."I can't wait to read it. I'm surprised you haven't let that cute Alda read it yet though."

If possible, Ori blushes even harder when she pulls back."She may have read one or two sections to check my spelling of certain words. Nothing about Conner, of course, but she was very interested in what she called my mystery project. You...think she's cute?"

Fili snorts at that."You certainly do, you can tell every time someone mentions her name. She seems to hold in interest in you as well. Should we be giving you a lecture on the birds and the bees?"

"What? No!"Ori exclaims, covering his mouth quickly as he realized how loud he had gotten."No, of course not. I...I am thinking of going to her family, however, and asking permission to court her. She's amazing, and doesn't seem to mind at all that I'm more knowledge inclined than warrior inclined."

"Well of course not, you're quite a catch."Cricket assures Ori, while Fili nods beside her."She would be crazy not to be interested in you."

"I hope her family thinks the same way."Ori says a bit morosely, before making himself perk back up."But come, I must show you the rest of the library, no need to mope around!"  
*************************

After Cricket has finished the tour of the library, and Conner has finished showing off his study room to Jace(bringing one of his books along with him to show Jace on the wagon ride to Dale), they all say their goodbyes to Alda and Ori and set off once more, Ori promising to send a few books to Dawn and Donalds room to read if they are interested in learning more about middle-earth, written in the language of Men. This time they set off the opposite direction towards the main shop stretch, taking a left down a hallways then starting a slow trek uphill towards the entrance of the mountain, which was the direction of both the shops and the training grounds. Once again they catch the stares of all who pass by, but luckily not one of them is as detail orientated to notice the bead in her hair as Alda did, or else they might have had a small crowd following them around. As it was, most of the subjects were too scared to approach the princes anyway, even with their reputation for being open and friendly, but too much time with the rudest of the nobles had made them wary.

Most of the shops were small, as Dale was only a short walk away and Erebor shipped a large amount of metals and jewels out, as well as armor, jewelry and weapons. However, the shops that were there, other than a medium sized general store, were catered to specific needs and sales. Kili and Fili took her slowly past most of them, explaining what they were for and who mainly went to them, even pointing off a side section that had tavern like buildings for those who just wanted to drink and boast loudly(Donald joked that he wouldn't mind visiting there, to which Fili said if he was serious they could arrange it with one of the company members who frequented it), as well as a building for those who simply wanted to order what they wanted and have it sent to their homes, not wanting to brave the outdoors. They did, however, stop by Dori's tea shop, letting the group visit with the immaculately braided old dwarf for a short while, as well as Balin and Oin who were having a short break to relax with a steaming cup.

Oin took a moment to take her to the back room and ask her a couple of questions, making sure her wounds were still healing ok, checking the wound on her arm quickly and commenting on how he was relieved she was so unlike most of his patients, refusing to get out of bed for even a simple stubbed toe. Once he was convinced she was healing nicely and that the princes weren't dragging her around too much, he let her back into the main room and had her sit down with a cup of a hot spiced tea, brewed to help with her with her energy for the rest of the day. Everyone else was given a type of sweet, hot berry tea that Conner enjoyed quite a bit, partly to make sure she was allowed time to finish her own, and partly to give them a short break from running around. Conner, as hyper as he could be, luckily knew the rules for being in Dori's shop, and whispered them to Jace covertly as to make sure his friend didn't get into trouble. The main rule was don't run around like a hellion as Dori had several breakable and expensive things in the shop, a rule that Kili actually had a harder time following than Conner, while the secondary rule was use quiet inside voices as the shop was a place of relaxation, and that people came for the calm aura of it.

Once they were finished with the shops, they climbed slowly up a range of stair flights, Fili making sure to help Cricket up them as she was bound to have issues after a while, and made there way to the training center kept right next to the entrance to Erebor. Conner and Jace were both excited about this as Conner had explained that Dwalin was the strongest warrior in all of Erebor, and beat all the soldiers into shape, as well as overseeing any other fights of honor performed to try and prevent deaths, as well as keep it fair. Jace liked playing fighting games at home, and wanted to see the real thing very badly, his friend assuring him they could sit up front close to watch the proceedings, his parents next to them, of course.

They get there in time to see Dwalin finishing up with a group of young warriors, all of whom look to be just under the correct age to join the army, though with dwarves it could be hard to tell. Dwalin has them collect their things and leave for the day, noticing out of the corner of his eye Kili and Fili helping Cricket to a seat up front, Conner and Jace sitting on either side of her while her mom and step-dad sit behind them. Dwalin gives a smirk and heads towards them as a small group, about four or so, of dwarves enter from the side and stand in a group muttering amongst one another, another fairer than the rest standing off along and polishing a sword, trying to ignore the comments being directed at him."Well, you did say you would be stopping by, and a good time by the look of it. You're just in time to see the conclusion of a little squabble Thorin judged while we were all out, bunch of little shits the lot of them."

"What's Uncle having them do?"Kili asks curiously as Conner and Jace split a large cookie they nabbed from the kitchens with the help of said dwarf.

"Oh, the blonde one insulted their fighting skills, said they needed to practice more. Something about being naked with his hands tied behind his back, whatever it was they took offense to it."Dwalin says with an amused snort."I personally think blondies right, but Thorin wants him to prove it, so he'll be fighting each of the snots one on one to prove himself. They win, he owes em apologies. He wins...they have to drop it and have extra training sessions with me, no exceptions."Dwalin gives a feral grin at the thought, always up for laying the law down on some spoiled noble brats who think their shit don't stink, then looks over at the dwarf actually preparing for the fights, instead of standing around and talking."You, blondie, come'ere! Yea, you!"

The dwarf looks reasonably nervous as he makes his way to the intimidating commander, sword at his hip and wearing nothing but some light leather armor. Cricket approved, as he would be able to move around much easier in that, rather than wearing full on armor. A quick glance again and she noticed he had two daggers inserted into his boots as well. The armor was older but well made, and the sword grip looked as if it had been used quite often. The dwarf in question was younger than Fili and Kili, with shining blonde hair braided into what was surprisingly a ponytail, with a well trimmed shorter beard and bright bottle green eyes."Yes sir?"

"What's your name blondie?"

"Olif, son of Bolif, sir."

Dwalin frowns a bit at the name."Bolif huh? I remember your father, he was one of the few nobles that actually fought in the battle for the mountain. What did you do again to rile those lads up so bad?"

Olif glances quickly at the group watching him curiously."I uh..I told all of them they needed to practice more, because they couldn't hit me with a sword if I was naked, painted bright red and had both hands tied behind my back."

There's loud, unrestrained laughter to the side, causing both Dwalin and Olif look over and see Cricket, her face red and body shaking as she lets it all out, Conner and Jace giggling beside her. Kili and Fili are laughing as well, though not quite as hard, mostly just glad to see her in such a good mood."I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh."She says when she finally stops laughing enough to take a deep breath, the nobles brats looking at her like she was feeble-minded."It's just, that's the greatest thing I've heard in a while, and it reminded me of home. Olif, I want you to know I'm rooting for you because of that, so please don't let me down."

"I..thank you."Olif says, cheeks a light pink."Lady..."

"Cricket."She says lightly, smiling at the nervous boy.

"She's our sister!"Kili says brightly, coming up and throwing an arm around her.

When Olif gapes, Dwalin sighs loudly, grabbing Kili and dragging him up to the front."What happened to keeping that little piece of info to ourselves for now?"He asks, saying it lowly into the princes ear.

"Well, Alda already figured it out."Kili says with a shrug, not seeing the big deal."And if we wanted to keep it a secret, Amad probably shouldn't have braided the family bead into her hair."

Dwalin shakes his head and lets go of Kili, turning back to Olif."Well, you heard the princess, she's rooting for you. Are ya gonna let her down, or are ya gonna live up to your words? Either way someone gets extra training with me, and you know how I treat those who've shirked in the first place."

"No sir, when I say something I mean it."Olif says with a serious face for one so young."They need to learn they can't boast about having skills when they never practice them. Being a noble doesn't mean you can wave a sword around and be automatically right about everything, my father taught me that" With that he stomps to the middle of the sparring ring and turns to face the audience."I dedicate my victories to the Lady Cricket, as she has expressed a desire to see me succeed." The nobles give each other amused looks, one breaking away from the others and joining Olif in the center, smug look on his face.

"Look at you, already making the nobles fight each other."Fili says in amusement."Though, if he pulls this off I say he deserves some sort of award."

"You mean other than getting to beat the snot out of a bunch of spoiled brats? Hell, I suppose I could ask if he would be interested in joining my private guard. I only accept those I approve of, and the missions I send them on are ones I need to be able to trust completely in the people working with them."Dwalin considers it for a moment."That might work, actually."

"Um, Dwalin, you might wanna go and referee things."Cricket says, pointing to the center of the ring."I think they're about to start, and I don't trust the other guys to not cheat if they think they can get away with it."  
************************************************

Olif wins no contest, even with the noble sons attempting to cheat. His father had taught him extremely well, and he moved like he was born with a sword in his hand, the armor moving along with him and causing him no problems at all. One of the last nobles actually shrieked at one point when Olif pulled out his daggers to block the hand axe coming at him, kicking his feet out from under him then pinning him to the ground with said dagger. All it took for the first smug noble, in fact, was a punch to the nose, as neither of them had even pulled their swords yet before Olif was being insulted, and once he looked at the blood leaking from his nose he went pale and fainted straight away. Now, all the fights weren't like that, but Olif still ended up coming out victorious, the two young boys actually running towards the dwarf and jumping round him excitedly when they realize he was the winner.

When they finally managed to drag the boys away from the confused dwarf, Dwalin takes the chance to whisper into Crickets ear that after dinner he needs to show her something as well, so not to make any plans. Cricket agrees, curious as to what he wants to show her that Kili and Fili can't, then allows him to escort her down to the wagon taking them all to Dale, Dwalin himself lifting her into the wagon before heading back to the sparring ring to have a long talk with the young dwarves still there, being watched over by his guards to prevent any further violence. He had even made the days of the two young boys by handing them both blunted wooden swords to stick through their belts, painted silver with no sharp points in case of being jabbed at someone. Both Jace and Conner take the swords with awed looks on their faces before giving the grizzled warrior a hug on each side of him, much to the amusement of everyone around watching.

As the wagon makes its way down the road to Dale, Jace and Conner keep both swords in their laps tightly, Conner showing Jace the book he brought with him and explaining all the pictures, the book full of elves and dragons and dwarves and other mysteries to the blonde boy. Jace sat in Dawns lap, while Conner sat in Crickets, and she watches the two boys adoringly as they converse with one another."You know, it's funny."Fili says to her about halfway there, him sitting next to her while Kili sits across, all of them grabbing onto the wagon for a moment as they hit a particularly rough patch of road."Those two get on amazingly well. They almost remind me of myself and Kee. They even have the colors right."

Cricket cocks her head at him before looking at the two boys thoughtfully, then at her adopted dwarf brothers. Sure enough, even though their hair was much shorter and they were both likely to be taller, the boys showed an amazing resemblance to the two princes. Jace looked like Fili, with his shining blonde hair and technically being older than Conner, and Conner having that dark curly hair and friendly demeanor, both of them sticking together no matter what."Wow, you know you're right. They could almost be your mini-me's the way they look and act. We should dress all of you up like one another and show Dis, I bet she would get a kick out of it."

"You're probably right."Fili says grinning back at her while Conner shows Jace a picture of Smaug, all teeth and fire."Since we haven't given her any grandchildren yet, she would likely just abandon us and take the boys instead."Fili misses the frozen look of fear and regret on Crickets face as he's turned away from her, and she manages to put a mask back up before he glances back up at her."She's ready to try and play matchmaker for the both of us, most likely at the treaty feast. I as the crown prince have to find a match worthy of ruling at my side as Quees, but Kili over there has more options."

"Aye, mother is planning on throwing quite a few eligible young women his way."Kili chortles as his brother glares at him."Since Uncle isn't likely to find a bride, the responsibility is left to Fee."

"Is that how it usually goes?"Donald asks curiously, not used to any type of arranged marriage, or the way royalty would work."Your parents find a bunch of likely people and throw em out in front of you?"

"If you haven't managed to find someone yourself before a certain time, yes."Fili says somberly."I'm not expected to choose one of them right then and there, but it does push me to find someone faster, and the treaty feast is, as Amad puts it, the perfect time to make an acceptable alliance with someone, or to find a possible one. Even if I did find someone, though, I would still have to appeal to her father and family, then court her for at least a year before we were considered properly engaged. This just starts the process."

"Lord, that sounds more trouble then it's worth."

"It is, but unfortunately it's our way, and as the prince I'm even more required to follow it."

Dawn frowns at that, then looks at her daughter."You aren't required to go through all of that mess, are you? Being an adopted member of the family and all."

"Cricket is a special case."Kili says to the worried mother, patting her arm."And mother knows that. We won't be forcing her into anything, even if we could."

"The thing is, I don't know how long I'm here."Cricket adds in."What if I get involved with someone, then get suddenly sent back home, with no way back and no memories again? Leaving behind children and a family?"

"We're working on that, though."Kili says, making her look over at him quickly."Thrandiul thinks that with the type of powers Conner is showing to have, he may be able to adapt them to the point of shadow traveling between worlds. He can already travel the mountain by hiding in the shadows, after all. It can't be too hard to stregthen it from there. So...a relationship might not be too far fetched for you now."

Cricket goes silent at that, holding Conner and staring off at the scenery, her mind a whirl of thoughts. Fili glances at her, worried as he notices a strange gleam in her eye, wishing once more his brother hadn't adopted her into the family so he could have offered her the ring he had picked up from the treasure room, and a place at his side as the future queen of Erebor. Mother was fond of her now, so he had no doubt she would had accepted Cricket as a daughter-in-law. She was a warrior not afraid to defend herself, as well as kind to those around her, which his people would have appreciated in a queen. Not only that but as a Dragon Knight she would be more than qualified to defend the kingdom with Conner at her side. Sure, there was always the chance she could be sent back home, but with the leaps and bounds Conner was making in his training it would be no time at all she could come back of her own free will. He cared for her a great deal, though admittedly he was ashamed of the way he had acted after their one drunken night together. He had been a coward, too afraid of how everyone would react if they found out to ask how she actually felt about the whole situation, and by the time it was too late the only solution he could think of was to ask for her hand. Even now he kept the ring he had planned to offer her in a pouch always at his side, to remind him of his stupidity.

He could just barely hear Kili talking in the background, telling Crickets family more about the courting rituals of the dwarves and how the company had all agreed to step in as the males in her family if anyone did ever make an offer for her hand, but he was barely paying attention as he kept an eye on the woman in front of him and the contemplative look on her face as they trekked ever closer to the rebuilt city of Dale, wondering what could possibly be going through her head at the moment.  
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Dale was simply amazing. The last time Cricket had been here, it had been a city of rubble and ruin, the buildings left over threatening to topple over at any moment, but since she had been gone it had been transformed to a beautiful city full of well-built homes and shop buildings, with a thriving marketplace stretching all the way from the entrance of the city in a series of roads and side shops, to the large circular center of the town filled with peoples of all races. The very center of the town had a small park surrounded by flowers, a clear pond along the side of it with a large tree giving its section of the park shade and a perfect place to rest and watch the goings on around oneself. The main landmark of the park, however, was a memorial set in the back of the pond, a monument to everyone who lost their lives getting back the mountain and the city, human, elf and dwarf alike. It was clear the dwarves had made it from the craftsmanship of the granite, while the elves had most likely nursed all the beautiful flora encompassing it, kept in a city of Men who kept it clean and tidy and paid for.

Surrounding the jewel of a park was a bustle of trade and activity that put the Laketown marketplace to shame, the smells alone making all of their stomachs growl loudly as they pass one of many bakeries, though the variety of food stands were astounding, as they discovered there were apparently several different food you could serve on a stick, much like a state fair back home but to a much lesser degree. Along with the food stands and shops there were venders selling jewelry, clothes, armor, knick-knacks, fabrics, spices, groceries, furniture and so on. Fili had to stop several vendors from pulling the in awe visitors to the side to try and pass on their wares, wondering for the first time why they didn't take a few guards with them after all, if anything to try and keep them from getting scammed. Both Donald and Kili ended up grabbing a boy by the arm and dragging them away from a stall filled with brightly colored dragon and warrior toys, both of them pouting the maximum amount when they finally stop protesting. Cricket finally tells them that if they agree to be good the rest of the time at the marketplace, they can each pick out one toy each, to which they agree to with wide eyes.

The next hour is spent with Kili and Fili taking the family to some of the calmer shops, ones that Dis herself suggested to get the best deals on what they needed to get while there. Cricket and her mother both pick out about five dresses each, while Donald and Jace get the same amount, both shown what all they would need to be properly dressed while in the mountain and most other places, much like when Kili was sent back to Crickets world and she had to help him pick out an outfit. In addition to the dresses, however, Cricket also picks out a couple of black and brown pants and leggings, as well as several loose shirts, undershirts and vests to train in once she heals, as well as stuff to travel in as she can't stand wearing a dress all of the time. Once they pick out some clothes, they go to get boots and belts, then stop by and get some toiletries so that Donald could shave and they could pick out some of their own things to wash with. By this time Cricket was starting to get tired, her wounds aching a bit, so she asks if they can take a short rest at the beautiful park before going any further. Fili and Kili take the rest of the group to sit next to the pond, while Cricket goes to one of the bakery stands to get some snacks while they sit.

"Oh my goodness!"The lady at the counter exclaims when they bring up what they want to buy."I remember you! You were with the company of dwarves that came through, hoping to take back the mountain! You would come by and tell stories to the children in the center of the old Laketown marketplace!"

"Oh, hi there!"She says, not thinking anyone would recognize her here from the last time."Luckily they did manage to take the mountain back after all. I'm glad you were able to come and reopen your bakery!"

"Oh, me as well. It took a little bit of time once the battle was finished, but once the dwarf king gave us the gold promised, all of us came back to help rebuild the town and start out lives back up, with the dwarves helping quite a bit. Oh, no no no."The woman exclaims when she sees Cricket trying to pull out some coins for her purchase."After all you did for us, the least I can do is give you a free bit of food!"

Cricket thanks the woman and quickly leaves the shop before she can be offered anything else, then heads to the park to join the rest of her company, grateful for the patch of grass she sits down on as her body aches from the strain of going for so long. It almost seemed like the old days, all of them relaxing with cookies and lemonade as they gaze at the hustle and bustle around them, with the only thing missing being a story told by Cricket. Once Conner and Jace finish their cookies and drink they throw the crumbs to the birds swimming around in the pond and run around the tree in a fast paced game of chase while the adults look on and finish their own snack, chuckling every once in a while as one of the boys would run over and tag someone, then jolt away giggling. After a while a few other children joined in on the fun as well, the parents looking on with smiles as it turned into a giant game of tag.

After a while they got so entranced at watching the game, they didn't notice when the crowds around them quieted down a bit, parting to allow someone through the masses of people behind Cricket and her group. The children in front of her stop the game suddenly and give cheeky little bows and curtsies, while Conner looks up and gives a wave to who ever is behind her, a large grin on his face."Hello Conner, good to see you again. Are you here with Kili again?"Cricket pales as she hears the familiar voice behind her, while Conner nods excitedly.

"He sure did, but he's not the only one I'm here with!"Conner runs behind her, her still sitting frozen from the sound of the voice, her mom and stepdad looking at her strangely while Fili glares down at the ground, Kili smiling back at the man approaching.

"Oh yes, who else did you come here with? Is it Lady Dis again? The girls do enjoy her company when she visits."

"No, even better!"Cricket closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them back up and turning slowly in place, using Kili to pull herself up, if painfully. When she finally turns and rises completely her blue eyes meet startled brown ones, as he finally realizes just who is standing in front of him."Momma Cricket came back to me, and we're showing her around everywhere, isn't that great?"

"Hey there Bard."Cricket says softly, still gripping onto Kili's shoulder."Good to see you again. It looks like you've done well for yourself, and the city."Bard looked very well, in fact, dressed in a fine blue-grey tunic with darker grey pants, held together with a light grey belt. His hair was pulled back into a half ponytail, but instead of its usual messiness she was used to it was neat and shining with a little bit of wave blended in. There was even a silver circlet around his head indicating his status as the King of Dale, set with tiny sapphires and opals.

Bard gapes at her for a couple of seconds, not quite believing he is seeing her, before rushing forward and gripping her in a tight hug, Cricket smiling and hugging him back around the neck."I didn't think you were coming back. I knew you said there was a chance you could disappear but I never thought so soon after the battle.."

"None of us did."She says back, hugging him back around before letting go, wincing in pain as her arm suddenly yells at her, her side as well from the tightness of the hug.

"Are you ok?"Bard asks worridly as he notices the wince of pain on her face, as well as the way both of the princes jump to her side.

"She's injured."Fili practically growls, and Cricket gives him a strange look at his change in tone.

"I'm fine."She shoots back reassuringly, though she decides she might need to check on her side bandage."We were attacked by a band of Orcs when we first came back, and I got hit a couple of times. Luckily though, Oin knows his stuff and got the poison out, now I'm just waiting on the wounds to heal."

"We?"Bard asks with a confused look on his face."More than you came this time?"

"Crap, I'm sorry. Bard, this is my mom Dawn, my step-dad Donald and my..brother Jace. Guys, this is Bard, formally the bowman, now the King of Dale."

"A pleasure."Bard says with a little bow at her family, which makes her mother blush."You've raised quite an amazing young woman, and I count myself extremely lucky to know her."This time Cricket blushes, which causes Fili to scowl at the ground again."How are you finding your time here?"

"It's definitely..different here than back home."Dawn says, cautious about what to say and not confuse people."Other than the getting attacked, it's very beautiful, and the dwarves have been very accommodating. Your city is amazing as well, and very full of life."

"The cookies are really good!"Jace says loudly, Conner grinning beside him.

"I'm glad to hear it."He says, eyes darting back to Cricket, while Kili grins to himself noticing the tension between the two."Are you going to be staying in the city long? It would be my honor to have all of you over for dinner, and my children would love to see Conner and Lady Cricket again. What do you say?"

Cricket opens her mouth to speak, but Fili beats her to it."I'm afraid we have plans already, as Dwalin has claimed Lady Crickets time after dinner, and we need to take her home and replace her bandages, as well as finish up any shopping we have to do here. So I'm afraid we must decline your invitation this time, Sire."Cricket and Kili both frown at him for that, while Bard looks a bit let down to have his plan rejected.

"However.."A voice to the side says, cocky in its tone as it interrupts the staring between the four."It might be easier if we found a place to replace her bandages here."Everyone looks over to see Nori walking over to stand beside the group, the crowd finally dissipating to give them some breathing room as they go back to their sales and purchases."Maybe his majesty wouldn't mind showing us his home, so she could find a place and change them out there?"

Fili throws a glare at Nori for that, not happy to see him there, while Bard visibly perks up at the idea."That's a wonderful idea! I'd love to show all of you my home, and Cricket could see the Dragon knight apartments built for her and Conner! Would that work for everyone?"

"That works fine for me."Cricket says before Fili can step in again."As long as we're back in time for dinner, I have no problem with it, and I'd like to say hi to your kids as well. Is that ok with the rest of you?"There is a murmured consent from the rest of the group, the quietest from Fili as he keeps he eyes on the ground, not trusting himself to look back up lest he melt the monarch into a puddle of goo with his glare."Nori, I don't know what you're doing here, but are you coming with us?"

"Oh, I suppose I could."The spymaster says with a smirk, tucking a small bag into his belt."I was here to pick up some inks for Ori and a couple of..trinkets for myself, but I might as well stick around till you head back yourselves, help keep an eye on the lads. You know how boys like to act up, you can never have too many eyes on them."He may have been talking about the two younger boys when he says this, but he aims a fast wink at Cricket, leading her to believe it wasn't just them he wanted to help keep an eye on.

"Well then.."Bard says, offering Cricket an arm as his guards go to stand on either side of the group, and starts leading them through the marketplace towards the main castle."Let's make our way there now, and get those wounds of yours looked at. I may not have a healer with quite the reputation as your Master Oin, but my own is quite talented in her own right, and would be more than happy to reapply those bandages for you."Cricket smiles at him, letting him lead her through the city, the rest of the group following close behind them as Bard points out various spots in the city to everyone, leading them slowly through the streets as Cricket quietly tells him what all has happened to her since she returned to Middle-Earth. Nori keeps himself in the back so he can watch everyone, not at all missing the way Fili seethes as he follows behind Cricket and Bard.

Boy, it was going to be an interesting rest of the day. Cheerfully whistling he slips both of the boys a piece of taffy, he finds himself glad he decided to shadow the group.


	7. Itchy Rash?

**Sorry for the wait, but having some computer issues. Here's a shorter than usual chapter, heading back to normal size next one, with plenty of angst!**

Nori was very glad that he not only enjoyed his job, but was good at it at well. It allowed him the authority to not only shadow anyone and everyone to find out the dirty little secrets they wanted to hide, often uncovering plots of assassination, rebellion and theft, but to just plain people watch, offering him sometimes hours of entertainment that helped curb his tendency to nick things. The fact that Dwalin still slightly disapproved helped with the fact he was doing "Legal" work for his king, something he thought he would never see himself doing after dealing with the emotionally challenged monarch for the entirety of the journey three years ago, even if the stick had been partially taken out of his ass since then.

At the moment he was currently enjoying watching the scene unfolding before him, that started the moment Bard met back up with the little tour group and saw Cricket again. Most of the group was completely oblivious to the fact that Fili was practically frothing at the mouth at the sight of Bard leading her around the city by the arm, thinking he was simply angry that Bard accidentally hugged her too tightly and aggravated her injury. Cricket was smart enough to of sensed something was off, but since was in front of the blonde prince and wasn't able to see the glares being sent the human monarchs direction. Kili was holding a conversation with the two children, but even if he wasn't he was always bad about noticing things like that, and of course the two parents were two interested in the sights around them to pay close attention.

Nori, however, was a master of attention to detail, watching all the people in front of him with what anyone else would call a face of boredom while at the same time watching their surroundings for possible threats, his perfected poker face. For example, even though he was behind Fili in the group heading to the palace, he could tell he was still angry by the way he kept clenching his fists every couple of seconds, and when they would turn a corner Nori would see that even though his face was still and expressionless, his eyes held a fire that hadn't been seen since he had still been affected by the gold sickness. He had thought that once Kili had adopted Cricket as a sister that it would be something he wouldn't see anymore, but apparently sisterhood-even though not blood sisterhood-wasn't enough to stop his feelings for her. It made him wonder if perhaps something had happened her first time here that he didn't know about, and he hated not knowing something. It was bound to get even worse come the Treaty Feast, when Dis would be parading potential brides in front of Fili for him to possibly choose from, and from the way he would every so ofton mess with the little cloth bag he knew help the ring the lad was planning to give to Cricket before the battle, he knew the way the lad wanted that particular night to go.

But then, there was also the fact that Cricket clearly found Bard attractive still, and visa versa. Not that Thorin was dumb enough to try and force her into a marriage to strengthen ties between the two kingdoms, and Cricket was bound to still have her good reasons for not getting into a committed relationship with anyone, but if an offer was made, Thorin and Dis would still likely bring it forward to her. However, per dwarven custom, he would still have to gain the approval of the male members of her family, who at this point were all of the company, as would any potential suitors for her hand. Knowing Dwalin alone, it would be a very picky-and possibly violent-process, which he actually looked forward to. Knowing the elf prince, there may even be some competition, though there was a very slim chance any of the company would approve of him.

Course, Cricket would probably berate the lot of them if they they told no to anyone she actually felt something for, using some of the famous violence Dwalin taught her that she used quite often on those who pissed her off.

As the spymaster contemplates all of this they make their way up to the palace steps, the palace itself a beautiful, sturdy thing built of stone and granite that Erebor provided to their neighbor. While it certainly wasn't the grandest thing ever, it was extremely well built, with two main levels visible, an elegant tower extending outwards for the Dragon Knight apartments, and an extremely large underground area built underneath roomy enough to hold the entire city if need be in case of attack. Nori had actually been here before(not that anyone knew it), and had to say it wasn't that bad looking, the king focused more on making the palace welcoming than the finery of it, though it was balanced somewhere perfectly in between. There was even a medium sized building attached to the palace that prided itself on being a free clinic and a type of soup kitchen for those on harder times, something Bard insisted on after watching people nearly starve to death at Laketown. Food was donated from various shops around the city as well as the palace kitchens every day, and Thranduil sent two healers a month, switching out with the previous ones the first of the month, who helped heal and train other potential healers.

However, Bard led Cricket inside the palace instead of to the clinic, the guards separating from them once they were inside as they all were taken to a large sitting room right past the stairs, complete with plush chairs, lit fireplace, and a platter of various snacks being set out by a couple of matronly looking women who smile as the two young boys see the snacks and run over with glee, even though they just ate not thirty minutes ago. As Kili and the parents walk into the room to join the young boys, as well as possibly stop them from further stuffing their faces and stomachs, Bard and Cricket watch for a moment before he turns to lead her away towards the stairs.

"Excuse me, where are you taking Cricket?"Fili says loudly, causing the two of them to look at him strangely.

"I'm taking her to see the healer."Bard says in a calm tone while Cricket cocks her head at Fili in confusion."She still needs her bandages looked at, correct? That was the main reason we came after all."

"True."Fili says just as calmly, though a dark tone underlays his words."But seeing as she's now considered a princess of the house of Durin, she doesn't need to go anywhere with an unrelated male without an escort."

Bards eyes widen as he hears this. Crickets, however, narrow at the prince."You're kidding, right? I never needed a chaprone before! Are you going to make me have one when I go off with Dwalin tonight too?" Nori snorts silently to himself at the idea of anyone making the lass do anything she didn't want to do.

"Dwalin is a perfectly fine escort, what with him being the commander and all, practically a member of the family. However, Ba..King Bard is a different matter."

"I'll show you a different matter.."Cricket mutters under her breath, heading towards the blonde dwarf prince with a scowl on her face. Before she can get too close, however, Nori steps between the two of them with a disarming smile on his face.

"Calm down, your highness, don't get your trousers in a bunch."He says turning slightly to Fili and patting him on the arm with a twinkle in his eye."I'll be her escort. If I can share a tent with her, I think escorting her will be no problem. Right princess?"

"Righto."She says to the spymaster, lifting her eyes to Fili once more before moving them back to Nori."But please, don't call me princess or I swear I'll thump you. Lead the way Bard."

Bard silently does just that, and as Fili glares at their backs, he can just make out Nori's reply of."Don't make promises you can't keep. A good thumping sounds fun."Along with the sound of someone getting smacked upside the head.  
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"I apologize if I've crossed some sort of line."Bard says to Cricket after sending off for the healer, the three of them waiting in one of the plush guest bedrooms for her to arrive, Cricket sitting on the bed while the other two deemed to stand."I admit, I didn't think it would be that big a deal, though I also had no idea you had been accepted as part of the family. It must be a very recent development."

"Yea, Kili decided to adopt me the night before the battle, then Dis saw the family bead and put two two together."

"And it's not actually that big a a deal."Nori throws in, leaning against the wall nonchalantly."Course, there hasn't been that many female Durins to apply that rule on, but I'd like to see them try and force a chaprone on Lady Dis. Fili just has a very Thorin like stick up his ass for some reason, and for now it's better to just keep him calmish until you get back to the mountain, then have a little talk with Lady Dis and Dwalin about everything."

"About Fili being a horses ass? Sure, why not."Cricket says with a snort."Though if I wasn't hurt, Dwalin would probably just suggest me beating the crap outta him in a sparring session."

"It almost seemed personal."Bard muses to himself quietly."Though I suppose he could have just been upset that I aggravated your wounds. I am sorry about that, by the way, I would not have squeezed so hard if I had known they were there."

"Hey, it was bound to happen."She says with a shrug, throwing the king a comforting smile."It just gave me a good reason to visit the palace, even for just a little bit. Besides, with Conners help I'm healing a lot faster than I normally would."

"True, but I would have rather there be a much better reason for your visit than changing a bloodied bandage."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll get your chance."Nori says with a smirk as the healer walks into the room, a plump, cheerful looking woman with a mess of red curls tied into a braid going down her shoulders.

She gives a brief curtsy to the king before looking him boldy in the eye."All right then, what have you done this time highness? I was told you needed me as soon as possible, and all I find is you hanging around in a guest bedroom with a dwarf and girl."

Cricket and Nori both snicker at the way she speaks to the king, along with the way he shuffles his feet like a child in trouble with a faint flush to his cheeks before looking back up."Lady Cricket, Spymaster Nori, this is Branwyn, the healer I told you about. She stays in the palace and works much like your Healer Oin does, even having the elves train her more when they have a chance. Branwyn, this is Lady Cricket and Spymaster Nori of Erebor. Lady Cricket is an old friend of mine I haven't seen in three years, and in my excitement to see her I aggravated a wound she received recently, breaking it open a bit. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to take a look at them and change out her bandages. Oin was kind enough to of sent her out with medicated bandages just in case."

"Very nice to meet you Branwyn."Cricket says to the healer as she's given a curious once over by the woman."Sorry to inconvenience you, but King Bard was a little overenthusiastic with his hug."

Nori watches as the healer glances between Cricket and Bard in a somewhat amused manner before giving a large smile."Oh, it's no problem at all Lady Cricket, I just figured his highness had injured himself again doing some fool stunt." She turns to the two men in the room."All right you two, get out. I'm not changing the bandages in front of you, no matter how close you may or may not be to the young woman. Go on, shoo!" Cricket giggles as the two men walk out to the plump womans glare, before it's turned to her and morphs into a gentle smile."All right Lady Cricket..."

"Please, I hate all the formal stuff, please just call me Cricket if you don't mind."

"If you insist."Branwyn says, her smile growing wider."Though I warn you, it may just be easier at times for me to say miss instead. Now, let's get you out of that gown and change out those bandages."Cricket obliges, coming to her feet to allow Branwyn to get the dress off easier. Between the two of them them gently get it off, and sitting Cricket back down she peels the bandages off of the wound, peering at it critically."Well, it wasn't opened up too badly, so you're lucky. Whatever medications Master Oin put into the bandages seems to be working. All I'll really need to do is clean around it a little bit before putting the new ones back on."

"Oin actually sent cleansing cloths for that, as well. They're in the bag with the bandages."

"He just planned for anything, didn't he."Branwyn says, taking the cloth out and gently cleaning around the wound, Cricket only slightly wincing at the touch. Thankfully it included a numbing agent, so it wasn't too long before she stopped feeling the discomfort all together. Once the wound was completely cleaned and numbed, Branwyn starts putting the bandages back on."Quite a wound for a lady like yourself to have, and it seems like you have one on your arm as well. What in the world were you doing to get you wounds like that?"

"Oh, I was fighting off orcs that attacked our group."She says nonchalantly, not noticing the way Branwyns eyes widen as she pauses in her application of the bandages."I was a little rusty though, so they got some shots in unfortunately."

"A little rusty? You say that like you've fought off orcs before."

"What? Oh, yea, I have. Goblins, orcs, pig-headed soldiers, you name it."

"Why? No offense, but generally ladies are supposed to stay out of fights."

"No offense taken. I'm pretty much a lady just in name."Cricket says as they gently start putting her dress back on."Plus, I've never been the type to stand back while other people fight around me. I certainly wasn't going to hide while everyone else fought for the mountain. Good thing for my friends they knew better than to suggest such a thing, considering the last person who suggested I stay inside like a good girl got his sexist ass kicked. That was fun."

Branwyn shakes her head at the girl as she finishes tieing the dress back up, noticing the reminiscent grin on her face."Well, you're just a little spitfire, aren't you? Something tells me you can be just as much trouble as his highness and occasionally, his children. Why, just last year young master Bain broke his arm when he went for a ride on a horse that was still being trained because he wanted to prove to everyone he knew what he was doing. Sigrid is a bit tamer, she has her fathers stubborn mind but is becoming quite the lady. Tilda is honestly the tamest of the bunch, though she does sneak into the kitchens to learn from time to time."

"Did you know Bard before he was king?"Cricket asks curiously, sitting back on the edge of the bed for a moment as she stare at the plump healer."You seem very easy around him."

"Goodness yes, I knew him before any of his children were even a thought!"Branwyn says with a loud laugh, smiling widely."I knew him when he was still a wild young soldier who thought he was completely invincible, used to fix him up every he hurt himself badly enough to look for help, and delivered all three of his children. That's one of the reasons I was asked to work in the palace, I'm not afraid to tell him whats what, and I would look to his health even if he wasn't a king."

"Good. It's way to easy to pretend to be on someone's side just because they have power and rank. Having people around you can trust is a must have, and someone he trusts with his health and kids at that? A godsend for sure."

"You are very right, miss. Might I ask, how do you know King Bard? Sorry if I'm being nosy, but..."

"Not at all. Do you remember the group of dwarves that came through Laketown right before Smaug attacked, the ones the Master promised help to in exchange for re-compensation when the mountain was taken back?"

"Of course! I didn't get to see much of it at the time, as I was in the middle of mid wiving for a poor woman in the middle of labor, and had to help afterwards, but I remember it happening, hard to miss honestly."

"I was part of their group. Bard actually helped us sneak into the city, and while my idiotic friends got caught trying to get weapons from the armory before they were promised help, I stayed at the house with all the kids and kept them occupied. I remember him being pretty angry about that, but unfortunately I didn't notice them leaving until the last couple were on their way out."

"That's right!"Branwyn says, sitting down along with Cricket on the bed, her eyes gleaming. "The father of the children I was helping to deliver said there was a young woman with the dwarves, helping to get everything together for the last leg of the journey. He also said while you were there, you would sit in the middle of the marketplace and tell stories to the children. From what I heard the last day you had quite a little group listening."

"What can I say, I'm good with kids."Cricket says with a shrug, standing back up and heading to the door."It's a talent that fortunately extends to dealing with grumpy dwarves, thank goodness. Now, should we let those two see that I'm perfectly fine, before Nori finds a way to slip in through the window for a peek?"

"Surely he wouldn't dare!"

"Ooohh you have no idea. I have no doubt that if he had a way, he would so be a peeping tom right now. Probably the only thing keeping him is that we left him outside with Bard, and Fili expects him to be there when he takes me back."

"I'm wounded princess."Nori says as soon as they open the door, an innocent look on his face she doesn't trust for a second, Bard shaking his head at him in amusement from beside him."Surely you don't think I would go that far? I'm a fine, upstanding citizen of Erebor after all, and technically your escort at the moment."

"Nori, you're the spymaster for Erebor, that kinda means you're anything but upstanding. You're legally allowed to spy and break into places to keep the kingdom safe, and that's about as upstanding as you get. Besides, didn't you sneak into Oin's surgery room while I was half naked, then have to be kicked out by Dis and my mom?"

"That's all in the past, princess."

"Don't call me princess."Cricket growls, but she has a half smile on her face."And weren't you listening at the door?"

"No comment. Everything in order, nothing broken open too badly?"He aims the question at the healer, who had been watching the short exchange with a raised eyebrow."Pretty sure Dwalin would kill someone if you passed out from blood loss."

"She's perfectly fine."Branwyn assures him, giving Bard a short nod."Moving around will, unfortunately, cause the wounds to bleed a bit, but nothing that can't be handled. Just be more careful when you give her hugs in the future, all right?"

"Yes mam."Bard says respectfully, making the matronly woman smile gently at him."Thank you for your help, I appreciate it."

"Oh, you know that's what I'm here for. I'm just glad it wasn't another broken bone, or food poisoning, or a strange rash that itches."Bard blushes a deep red at that, and Cricket can't help but wonder the story behind it, giggling to herself as he looks very uncomfortable."Just let me know if you need anything else, dearie, I'll be at the free clinic making tonics with the elves."As she turns and walks away, Nori turns to Bard with a large grin on his face.

"Strange itchy rash? This I have to hear."

"No, you really don't."Bard growls, though with no real anger."Some things you don't discuss in front of a lady, and even if I was going to.."

"Not a lady. Repeat, not a lady. I've heard things back home that are guaranteed to be much worse than anything you could say."

Eh, even so, not a topic I"d like to discuss, especially in front of the spymaster, no offense."He says, throwing her an embarrassed look."Now, since we know I haven't permanently harmed you further than you already were, should we head back to the rest of your group and let them know you're ok? I know Prince Fili is probably wearing a trail in the floor by now."

"I guess. I swear, I don't know what's up with him, but he needs to cut it out. I'm not some delicate little flower, and he should know if more than almost anyone. Hell, he helped Dwalin train me! Just because I'm kinda a princess on a freakin technicality doesn't mean all that goes out the window, and if he keeps it up I'm gonna drag his ass to the traning grounds, wounds or not, and beat some sense into him!"

"You might have to."Nori says with a strangely serious sigh as Bard takes her arm and starts guiding her back through the palace to the rest of the group."He was protective of you before, but the gold sickness seemed to extenuate it somehow, just not to the visible point it did Thorin."

"True, you never needed an escort the first time you were here, and you came to visit me on your own several times then."Bard adds in, face thoughtful as they walk through the halls."Though, in defense then most of them were up in the mountain at the time and not paying that much attention."

"I guess."She pouts, causing the two men to chuckle a bit at the face."I'll just be happy when the wound heals and I can run around with Conner willy nilly again."

"Good luck with that."Bard says with a laugh."Were you planning on traveling any, going around to visit anyone else from the last time you were here?"

""I don't know...I'd like to though. I'd like to show my mom the Shire, she'd love it there, and Jace would get a kick out of everyone being the same height as him. If I heal fast enough, I'd like to visit Beorn, and see some of the Dragon Knight apartments that were rebuilt. Oh, didn't you say I could see the one here?"

"Of course, I'm sure Conner would enjoy that as well."Bard says with a smile as they stop in front of the room. However, anything else he could add in is silenced as they all look in to see Conner and Jace both asleep on Kili and her mothers laps, respectively, faces still littered with crumbs from all the snacks they inhaled. Fili looks up at them from the wall he's leaning against, dark look in his eyes as he glares at the two men at her side.

"Good grief, we weren't gone for that long, were we?"Cricket says softly, watching the two boys snore lightly."I could have sworn we were only gone for a little bit!"

"After stuffing their faces, we finally managed to get them to stay still for a bit."Donald says with a chuckle as Cricket comes forward and gently brushes the hair out of Conners face."Your mom promised to tell them both a story if they did, and halfway thru they had drifted off. I guess all the snacks and running around finally caught up with them."

"Every thing all right then?"Fili asks, stepping forward and uncrossing his arms, eyes softening just a bit."Nothing major rip? Are you still bleeding?"

"I'm fine, Fili."She says, standing up straight and looking over at him."The healer said it's normal for a little bleeding as I move around, and that the medicated bandages are doing their job to help me heal. Just no more tight hugs, right Bard?"

"Right, just gentle ones for now."He says with a wink before looking to the rest of the group."I'm sorry none of you got the chance to see the rest of the palace, but I've been informed some of you already have plans for later. However, I would like to extend an invitation for all of you to return in a couple of days and have dinner here with me and my children. Would you be so kind as to inform King Thorin and Lady Dis I would be honored if they would join as well? The more the merrier, after all."

"Of course!"Kili says cheerfully, not noticing the rolling of his brothers eyes as he accepts happily."If dinner is anything like the snacks you had out, I can safely say none of us will leave here hungry!"

"Wonderful! Have your uncle send a messenger with his reply, and I can make sure things are set up on my end. Now, is your wagon still waiting to take you back up the mountain? If so, I would gladly escort all of you back through the city to it."When they nod in confirmation, he smiles, offering his arm to Cricket once more while Donald and Kili lift the sleeping children up into their arms gently, careful not to wake them up lest they be grumpy.

Bard escorts all of them back through as promised, Crickets arm around his the entire time as they talk softly to one another, most of the rest of the group thinking to themselves that a nap doesn't actually sound that bad, now that they see the little ones sleeping. The only ones not thinking it were, predictably, Nori, Fili and Cricket, the former walking beside the prince this time and able to get a better look at his face out of the corner of his eye as they slowly made their way back to the wagon. As well as when Bard gently kissed Crickets hand before lifting her up onto said wagon, he noticed the clenched fists at Filis sides, and the bloody half moons in his palms when he finally unclenched them.

That had to be the longest wagon ride in history, between Fili's silent anger, both the children asleep, all the other adults tired, and Cricket with a mild blush on her cheeks. Luckily Nori was used to awkward silences, and pretended to be asleep with his arms behind his head as they slowly plodded back. There was only one little bit of conversation on the way back, at the very beginning.

"Whew, gotta say, I might go take a nap myself when we get back, these two had the right idea."Donald says with a soft lap, adjusting Jace in his arms."Honey, you feel like joining me?"

"I think I just might."Dawn says, smiling up at her husband and laying her head on his shoulder."Honey, what about you? You probably need one more than any of us do, don't want to over work yourself the first day of healing after all. Most people would probably still be on heavy painkillers with wounds like that."

"Ugh, you know I don't like painkillers."Cricket says with a grimace."I hate not feeling in control. I'd rather go around without them and feel a little pain, rather then feel none and sleepy all the time. As for the nap...I think not. Once Conner wakes up, I think I wanna go up and see the apartments built for us. Kili, you mind taking us?"

"Not at all, but are you sure? There's a flight of stairs you'll have to go up, and you've walked a lot already. Dwalin and Amad will kill me if I let you overwork yourself."

"I'm sure Kili, I'm not tired yet. And I'll take the blame if anything. Besides, I'll have you to hold onto if I get dizzy, right?"

"Right!"

"Then don't worry so much."

Turns out she really should have taken that nap. If she'd known how her tour with Dwalin was going to go, she might have just slept all day. Turns out that's what happens when your brain gets overtaxed.


	8. Tombs are not a comforting place

"So, you've kept pretty quiet about where you're taking me." Cricket says to the gruff commander over dinner, Conner next to her showing Jace the best way to pile mass amounts of food onto his broken in half roll, then smash the top on to make it all look like a sandwich. What was amazing, however, was the way they not only managed to fit a bite of it into their mouths, but they did it without spreading the mess from their plates. She was pretty sure that Bombur had shown him that little trick, but Jace was catching on very fast. "Should I be worried? You're not taking me off to get some sorta princess makeover or a secret tattoo, are you?"

Dwalin snorts loudly over his pie, while Crickets mother glances over at Dwalins own head tattoos with a look of concern. "Neither, though I'm sure if ya want one, Dis will jump at the chance to do a makeover." He says after swallowing a particularly large bite, then looks up with an amused glint in his eye. "I'm just a bit more reserved than the lads, and not prone to bouncin round like an excitable pair of pups."

Both the princes give him a look both pouty and affronted, causing Thorin and Dis to chuckle softly. Fili had cheered up considerably once they made it back to the mountain, making her think he may have just been upset at the way Bard had accidently hurt her after all, even if he did overdo it a bit. It was something that had drifted from her mind as he helped her back to her room, Kili carrying Conner in his arms so he could finish up his nap. Cricket, not feeling up to a nap herself, sat in one of the chairs along with Kili and Fili, and listened as they told her a little bit about what all Conner had been learning while going back and forth between the mountain and the Greenwood. It made her feel like she hadn't missed quite as much as she actually had, though the entire time she kept feeling that strange tingling behind her ear, making her want to constantly press her fingers there to try and make it stop.

Once Conner finally woke up, he joined the conversation by crawling in her lap, sitting there and giving his own description on things, like how it felt when he went thru the shadows, how when he went invisible it was like cold water was poured over him at first, but now it was like a cool breeze that was simply there to let him know it was working. Unfortunately, he couldn't go invisible with anyone riding just yet, as the passenger wouldn't go invisible with him and it would look like a person was just floating in the air at a speedy pace. Thranduil and Legolas, however, were convinced that Cricket would share in the invisibility if she were to ride on him because of the bond, as well as spread it to anyone else who rode with them. She filed that into the back of her mind for a little errand she planned on for later, once she was healed enough to do so. Not that anyone else got to know that little tidbit of information for now, it was her little secret and she planned to keep it that way.

They stayed like that for a little over an hour, enjoying the company of one another without any interruptions, reminiscing on old times, feeling more like it had the beginning of the journey, only with Conner along with them this time, with not a care in the world. It was only interrupted when Oin knocked on the door, wanting to check on her wounds himself, a bag of medicated bandages in his hand. The boys, sans Conner, were kicked out and told they could come back later to get them for dinner, per their Amads orders. Once they were out, Conner switched to tattoo form while she gingerly removed the dress, pulling on a robe over it for better access to the wounds, but still able to have a bit of cover.

Once that was done, she came back over to Oin and sat on the bed, while he one by one removed each of her bandages, giving them a thorough examination silently while she just sat there and let him do his job, Conner amazingly just a quiet as the healer worked. It all in all took about 30 minutes, Oin finally ending it by reapplying the bandages and indicating for her to tie her robe back up all the way, sitting himself down in front of her and giving her a contemplative look. "You're healing very well. Better than you actually should be, in fact, even with the apparent accidental bleeding earlier."

"That's probably due to Conner and the bond." She tells the little healer honestly, not wanting to keep anything from him when he was being so straightforward about her injuries, and not treating her like she was some delicate flower. "I was told one of the effects would be faster healing, though exactly how fast wasn't exactly expanded on."

"That makes sense, the lad always did heal faster than I thought possible, though being a dragon I shouldn't be surprised."

*At least I don't get hurt as much as Kili and Fili did!* Conner says cheerfully, the tattoo moving up her arm and setting around her shoulder. *Amad Dis told me they always got into trouble, and were always having to get patched up.*

"Haha, that they were lad, and most of the time it was me doing the patching up." Oin chuckles throatily, watching the dragon twist around on her upper body playfully, then looking back up at her face. "From the way your wounds at the moment, your two lesser might be nearly all the way healed by the next week, though the wound on your side will take a little longer. While I obviously don't want those two knuckleheaded princes overworking you, I'd say getting a little exercise in every day wouldn't be a bad idea, so it's not as hard to get back in the swing of things once you are healed and feel like sparring again. I would suggest talking to either Thorin or Dwalin, both have good exercises for warriors healing from wounds who need to take a much slower pace, considering they were the same way several times. Other than that, if you take it easy for a while, you should be healed right up in no time. Any questions?"

"Not yet, but I promise you'll be the first person I go to if I do." She had assured the healer with an easy smile, standing with him as he went to leave her room. "Thank you for your help, and for keeping me stocked with your bandages. I know it's your job, but most doctors in my world don't make house calls. Or keep you supplied for free, for that matter."

He nods once, before cocking his head to the side in thought. "If you're not adverse to drinking it, I can start sending a special brew of tea, as well, to help replenish the blood you lost. It's not the best tasting stuff in the world, mind you, but add some honey and it'll help block the taste just fine."

"Hey, if that's what the doctor orders, I'm all for it. How often should I drink it?"

"Oh, once a day would be fine, though preferably after dinner, that way it can kick in while you sleep. If you're planning on having dinner at the same time as her, I can send it down with lady Dis once I've put it together."

Lady Dis had not only brought it down for her, but as soon as they both finished dinner she showed the young woman how to brew the single servings correctly, enjoying her own mix at the same time as she waited for Dwalin to finish eating. It was just as bitter as Oin told her it would be, and she did end up adding liberal amounts of honey to it, Dis giving her a knowing smirk as she did, quite familiar with the brew Oin had sent to her. Dis was currently in the middle of a conversation with her mother, discussing having Jace go to classes with Conner to not only keep him occupied, but let the boy earn more about dwarrow culture with his friend, while Donald was explaining football to an extremely intrigued Thorin, Kili and Fili, with the possibility of showing them how to play later. While Cricket thought it wasn't a bad idea, she thought telling them a bit about rugby might be a better one, as they could forgo the padding and helmets that didn't seem to make a lick of difference in American football. However, for now she was content to simply sit back and let her stepdad enjoy his conversation, he was always a big football fan back home and it was good for him to have something to talk about here. Thorin as well had offered to show him around the mines, while her mother was shown around by lady Dis, which Cricket was grateful for.

She finished off her tea just as Dwalin finished off the last of his meal and beer, wiping his mouth and giving out a loud belch that all the boys laugh and cheer at( Kili and Fili included), causing Dwalin to smirk. "Not that don't I don't enjoy being cheered for somethin that come natural, but me and Cricket got some place to be. Conner lad, you mind keepin your friend company while we go? I promise I'll keep her safe, just somethin I wanna show her."

"Well, if you say it'll be ok mister Dwalin, I believe you." Conner says with a cheerful smile at the gruff dwarf, who melts a little but doesn't let it show. "I can show Jace all the toys that Bifur made for me. Will I see you when you get back?" The last part he aims at Cricket, who nods reassuringly at him.

"Of course, you'll be the first place I go." She says, ruffling his hair lovingly, causing him to blush and duck his head while Jace giggles next to him. She gives Jace an evil look, then ruffles his hair as well, making everyone watching laugh as the two boys both duck at the same time, knocking their heads against one another with a thunk and groaning in symphony. "I swear, it's like seeing tiny versions of you two!" Cricket says with an amused laugh, pointing at Kili and Fili with her eyes full of mirth.

"It is quite the resemblance, down to the klutziness." Thorin says, causing his heirs to protest, though without much enthusiasm as they notice their Amad nodding in agreement, large smile on her face. "I imagine once they train together a bit the resemblance will grow even larger."

"I'm assuming without the beards, however." Dis throws in, finishing off her cup of tea and leaning back in her chair. "It will perhaps be more like having two hobbits running amok, waving swords around and pretending to storm castles while learning their letters."

Cricket doesn't miss the way that Thorins eyes seem to take a deep study of his plate when Dis says this, something she believes Dis might have actually done on purpose. Perhaps she might need to have a talk with the Lady of the mountain, see how she might feel about helping her with something that would both pull one over on her brother and be an enormous favor to him, if the guilt in his eyes she caught right before he dropped them to his plate said anything. If she was lucky, maybe she could convince Kili to take her and Conner to a place they could practice his new skills a bit, see if they changed any with her actually there.

Plus she just really wanted to be able to go flying, in all honesty.

Thirty minutes later, after they finally managed to get away from the joking of the dinner table, Conner and Jace heading off with her parents and a set of guards to their rooms to play, Dwalin and Cricket were on their way to whatever Dwalin felt that he needed to show her. Down and through the mountain her took her, past the market place, past the royal suites and the library, both in silence, until they came to a section that looked to be old, but in superb care, a pair of guards standing outside the entrance, an enormous marble arch that led to a section of stairs leading down, torches lining the way. Cricket looked at Dwalin with a curious expression, brows furrowed as she gripped his arm for stability.

"No offense, but this looks like the kinda hallway that leads to a torture chamber. Are you trying to give me a scare, or has Thorin finally decided to have me pumped for information? Because I'm warning you right now, I'm strongly opposed to both."

Dwalin gives a loud gruff chuckle, nodding to the men as he leads her down the stairs. "Nothin like that, I promise, though I would be worried if ya didn't question a dark scary stairway. No, this is one of the oldest parts of the mountain, second only to the mines, and nearly as deep. The difference is that ya don't have to constantly worry about the roof caving in on ya down here. Not only is the whole place built from a mix of marble, granite, and the mountain herself, but there's guards and caretakers constantly keeping the place up, checking to make sure that since the dragon was here there's no cracks or faults."

"Geez, it sounds like a treasure vault." She says as they near the bottom of the stairs, her eardrums popping from the air pressure change.

"Close enough to one for our people without being the actual thing." He says somberly. Without explaining further, they finish the descent and he allows her to get a good look around the place it led to, silent at first.

At first glance it merely looks like a dark stone room, several hallways branching out in multiple directions, a torch in every hall the only light to be seen. As they go deeper in she starts to see plaques, as well as what looks to be large stone boxes for some, and further on large marble doors. Her eyes widen as she realizes where exactly they are. "Is this…are these graves?"

"Yes." He says, taking her arm gently and leading her down a particular hallway, the caretaker for the night watching them as they walk through the dimly lit chamber slowly. "Our people have always felt that we needed to honor the dead by putting them back into the rock where we've always felt the most at home. It was, other than the living quarters, the first place we cleaned up when the war was over, seeing as we were going to need it fairly quick."

"I can imagine so." She says quietly, wishing she could read Inglishmek, not for the first time, so she could read some of the plaques. "Back home only some people get put to rest like this, and they generally need to be well funded to do so. Most people are put in a box and buried in the dirt, or creamated…errr...that's where you burn the bodies and put the ashes in a jar. Half the time the jars end up on a relatives mantle place for everyone to ooh and ah over. Do you preserve the bodies before you put them in, or do you leave them as is?"

"We clean them up the best we can, then put then their best armor or set of clothes." Dwalin says as they make their way down a different hallway to the left, then to the right, the tombs starting to look elaborate, with swords and shields placed over various ones. "Every family has their own section, with the royal vaults placed the very middle and dug down further to allow for further generations. As well, warriors who die in battle are given special preference when said battle is, say, for their home or people. Every warrior who died at the battle for the mountain, for example, has a tiny diamond embedded in their plaque."

She stops Dwalin in his tracks with a sigh and turns to face him, trepidation in her eyes. "Dwalin, I appreciate the lesson in your burial traditions, I really do…but why are we here? Because I really hope it's not to show me I have an empty tomb here for sometime in the future."

"No, nothing like that." He says, taking her arm and leading her a bit farther, to an area where every tomb has both a diamond and a sword with it, along with various other odds and ends, before facing her again. "I mainly needed to get ya alone to talk, but there is a second reason. I know ya haven't been back for very long, but ya seem..off. Reserved maybe, like you're holding things back, afraid to open up. Not only that, but I remember how close ya and Bofur were…that ya didn't get the chance to pay your respects to him as ya got dragged away as soon as that bastard Azog was killed. So, I thought I'd give ya a chance." With that he lets go and gestures to a tomb right next to them, with not only a diamond in the plaque, but a tiny emerald on the opposite side of it, a wooden horse placed atop. Her eyes going wide, she steps forward and gently touches the plaque, dropping to her knees as tears start to form in her eyes.

"We were shown where his body was by that elf whelp when we made it back down, after ya disappeared." Dwalin told her softly as she lay there quietly, not moving her hand from the plaque. "We took him back to the mountain as soon as we could so we could give him a proper funeral, one honoring not only a member of the company, but someone who died fighting for our home."

"But that's not why he died." She said softly, a tear running down her cheek. "I was helping to fight Bolg, and one of his orcs managed to get me held down when I slammed my head into a rock. Bolg was about to smash me with his club and Bofur pushed me out of way. He died saving me, Dwalin. Its my fault he's dead!" The last part she yells hoarsly, her emotions starting to break down as she tries to ignore the tingle behind her ear, stronger than usual.

Dwalin stands there, not quite used to dealing with crying women, and tries to make her feel better. Horribly, unfortunately, but he does try. "If he felt about ya the way I'm sure he did, he would still think it a good way to die. Love is usually the greatest thing you can sacrifice for, after all, and he did love ya. He even had a ring in his pocket when we found him."

"He what?" She asked with a start, turning her tear soaked face towards him.

"Yea, it was apparently his great Amads, he got it from Bombur the night before the battle, said he had someone he needed to give it to once the battle was over. There was honestly only one person I could see him talking about."

His words don't have the effect he thought they might, though, as he sees her face crumple and her body start to shake. "Why the hell would he do that?" She whispers, pressing her back against the tomb. " He said he was just trying to earn my trust back! After that mess at the palace, he was going to give me a ring? What the hell was wrong with him? I'm not worth it!" The last part has Dwalin kneeling down beside her, face concerned as he tries to still her trembling body.

"What happened at the palace? What did he do?"

"He was afraid if I went with all of you I'd die, or never make it home, so he said terrible things to try and make me stay with Thranduil. I didn't find out he didn't mean them until we made it to Laketown, and I told him he'd have to earn my trust back, but that I didn't hate him." She starts to shake again, despite Dwalins holding her shoulders. " I didn't hate him, Dwalin, I couldn't! And then everything seemed to happen at once, and I lost him, and then I lost…Dwalin, I'm bad luck! I just keep losing people!"

Dwalin finally comes to his senses as he sees the woman he spent so many months with breaking down in front of him, far from the strength he was used to her showing. He makes up his mind and scoops her up finally, carrying her in his arms out of the tombs, his face uneasy as she continues to shake and rant, somehow not at all surprised when Nori pops up beside him. "Making women cry again Dwalin? Gotta say not really your style. I suggest sticking to swords and stabbing things."

"Shut up sneak thief." Dwalin growls, keeping the whimpering girl tucked in his arms as the try to avoid others roaming around.

"What did you say to her?"

"Weren't you listening in?"

"I tried to stay out of the tombs, thank you. Not a fan of dead people. What did you say?"

"I told her about the ring. She didn't take it well."

"Of course not. All of you might not have known it, but she had a lot on her shoulders starting from the time we made it to Laketown, Bofur most of it. Telling her the guy who betrayed her, then died for her, wanted to ask her to marry him was a brilliant idea."

"Well it's not like I knew! I wanted to try and help, she seemed out of it lately!" He pauses and gives a deep sigh, pulling her tighter. "Will you tell me what happened?"

"First things first big guy, lets get her back to her room, and get Conner to her. Wait…what's she saying?" Both men go quiet, and listen to her mumbling, Cricket half asleep from being so upset and having a long day.

"All my fault." They hear her whisper, face still wet from her tears. "First Gwaine, then Bofur, then the miscarriage…why do the people I care about keep dying for me? It's all my fault…"

Both of their eyes go wide, not knowing who this Gwaine was, but recognizing Bofurs name. And the mention of a miscarriage…when did she have a miscarriage? Looking at one another with panic in their eyes, they start walking faster to her room.

To their supreme luck..or lack of luck, however you want to see it, her room was full when they arrived, with Dis, Conner, Jace, her mother and Donald all in it, Conner sitting on Dis's lap with a frown.. They all stop at the sight of the two men entering with Cricket bundled in Dwalins arms, however, Conner running over to the bed with a look of utmost worry on his young face as they place her on it, waking her as he jumps in her arms. "Mamma Cricket, what's wrong? I could feel you getting upset but Amad Dis said I needed to stay here and wait for you!"

Cricket, instead of answering, takes the boy in her arms and squeezes him tightly, as if afraid to lose him, while Dis turns to Dwalin with a frown. "What happened? I thought you were just taking her to see the tombs?"

"He did, but didn't take into account how much it would affect her to tell certain things." Nori says darkly, crossing his arms across his chest. "He may know battle, but emotional women are a different sort of battle he needs to stay away from."

"Apparantly so." Dis mutters, looking over at the upset young woman clutching Conner like he was her only lifeline.

"She kept saying it was all her fault, that she was bad luck." Dwalin told the gathered adults softly, the children now both cuddling with the distraught Cricket.

"What was?" Dawn asks quietly, looking over at the clearly upset dwarf, everyone else wanting to know as well.

"Someone named Gwaine, Bofur…said people kept dying for her. Then she mentioned something about a…miscarriage."

As Dis's eyes go wide, Cricket sits straight up and starts to panic. Her mother puts a hand over her mouth and goes white, remembering having gotten a call from the hospital saying her daughter was there, and grabs Donalds hand tightly, squeezing it for support. "When did she have a miscarriage?" Dis asks gently, having lost a child before and knowing it to be a sore subject.

"Mom, don't!" Cricket pleads, trying to get up, but still held down by the two boys.

"They need to know, honey." Dawn says, face hardening a bit as she turns back to Dis, hoping to finally get a question answered that had been plaguing her for a while. "She had one the day she supposedly came back from here the first time. Which makes me wonder who the hell slept with her, because she already told me this Bofur person didn't!"

All three of the dwarves pale considerably at this statement, Dwalins hardening a bit as he imagines the things he's going to do to the man who did this to her. "It doesn't matter who it was, it was a drunken mistake." Cricket cries softly, holding onto Conner still. "He just wanted to stop me from being upset, and went about it the wrong way. I didn't even know I was pregnant until I woke up in the hospital."

"That doesn't make it better." Dis says softly, going over to the bed and sitting down, grabbing the girls hand. "That someone was careless enough to not use protection, to think sleeping with you was a good way to make you stop being upset…that you were pregnant at all means it is a great loss. Children are sacred among us, and that you lost one…it means you lose a part of yourself."

"Was it Bard?" Nori asks, causing her to shake her head violently. He frowns thinking that would have been the best choice, then a thought comes to mind that he wished hadn't. "Maker…was it Fili?" At her freeze up, he knows he hit the mark and lets out a string of curses.

"What?" Dis says loudly, anger showing on her face as Cricket starts to shut down again. "My son did this?"

"He was acting particularly strange from the gold sickness, and possessive of her." Nori explained to everyone gathered, sounding exasperated. "I didn't think it went further than that. It must have happened at Laketown, when Bofur told her the truth. She had went to talk with Bard, pretty upset, then came back and started drinking with some of the company. She had also had some kind of whiskey to drink that Beorn had given her, made her act strange. I'm pretty sure Fili helped her to her room that night."

"So he took advantage of my daughter?" Dawn asks angrily, hands curled into fists.

"That's what I'm going to find out." Dwalin growls before stalking out of the room, Nori and Donald hot on his heels. Cricket starts crying again as Lady Dis pulls her into her arms, her mother joining them while the two boys wonder what's going on, only knowing that Cricket is upset and needs them as they curl into either side of her on the bed as she finally passes out.

 **Uh oh, whats gonna happen to Fili?**


	9. Planning a well deserved beating

It had been a rollercoaster of a day for Fili( not that he personally knew what a roller coaster was), and he was frankly ready for it to be over. Sure, it had started out well enough, what with having a filling breakfast and getting to show Cricket and her family around everywhere, just glad that she was back so he could it at all. They could have skipped the trip to Dale, though, and missed out on interacting with its king all together. That little part of his day still made him want to grind his teeth together in annoyance. It probably would have even if Bard hadn't accidently injured her, if he was being honest with himself. He knew the human king was attracted to her, and he didn't care for it in the least.

Would he still feel that way If he hadn't slept with her? Maybe. The mountain though…the gold sickness had cemented into him everything, and even though it no longer affected him in the most part…it was also the reason he kept the ring in his little pouch.

Kili hadn't noticed quite how badly it affected him, thank goodness, though he had noticed something was amiss. Thankfully he was more zoomed into Cricket and Conner to pay too much attention to his older brother, else he would probably have been questioned already.

Nori though…Nori notices everything. He was pretty sure Nori saw exactly what Kili missed, and that could be a problem if he passed it on to say Dwalin or Thorin. He was surprised that he hadn't been cornered by the spymaster yet, as Nori had a habit of using any information gathered to his advantage, and Nori gathered a lot of information.

Frowning at the thought of having something like that held against him, he leans against his bedpost with his arms crossed, most of his layers off except for his boots, trousers, and a loose white shirt usually worn underneath his tunic, along with the belt his pouch was attached to, sans sword and sheath. He had told Kili that he wanted to head to bed a little early tonight, wanting to get away for a little bit and mull over some things. Kili, who was worried but understood, wanted to get another bath anyway, so he left his brother to his thoughts.

His thoughts were mainly concerned with Dwalin taking her down to the tombs, knowing he was going to be showing her Bofurs so she could pay her respects. Bofur and her had always been close, though they seemed to of seperated a bit once they hit Laketown, and he imagined she was going to be pretty emotional when she got back, considering everything. Thankfully Conner would be there to help comfort her when she got back, but maybe he should check in on her himself, see if he could do anything to help.

A firm knocking on his door breaks him from his thoughts, and he looks over at it, brow creased. "Kee, I told you I wasn't up for company tonight. Go to bed."

"It's not your brother, open the door."

Fili recognizes Dwalins voice and frowns even deeper, standing up straight and turning towards the door, confused as to why the gruff dwarf would be at his door this time of night. "Dwalin? Sorry, I thought you were Kee…I was about to head to bed, is something wrong?" As he unlocks the door and turns the handle, he sees Dwalins face cold and emotionless save for a spark of anger in his eyes, before there's a knock over his head and everything goes black.

Dwalin nods at the guards keeping watch, knowing they trust him enough to know that he's doing this for a good reason, then slings the unconscious prince over his shoulder and turns to Donald, still holding the sword handle he bashed Fili over the head with and looking like he enjoyed it way too much. "Come on, sneak thief should have Kili and Thorin by now, and my men will have cleared the way for us so there isn't a scene."

"Is this usually the way you do things round here?" Donald asks as they go down the hall towards Thorins rooms, bigger than all the rest and perfectly soundproof to anyone merely passing by. "Because I gotta say I could get used to this. We get in trouble for it back home, call it assault and kidnapping even if they deserved it."

"Nope, but I figure an intervention is needed in this case, before things get worse." Dwalin grunts as they make their way down the hall, the guards letting them know that its safe to pass through. "And most of the time this is still kidnapping, but there's an old tradition here of snatching male heirs for what we call a come to Mahal meeting. It hasn't been used in centuries, but it was all I had to say to my men to get them to comply."

"That must come in handy, making sure your future king wont be a complete ass." Donald comments dryly, causing Dwalin to chuckle darkly despite the situation. " If we could do that to our potential leaders, the world would be a much better place. The closest thing we have is program that lets us bring delinquents to prison for a visit before they're considered adults, so they can see what will happen if they don't shape up. It doesn't always help, but some see the light and stop being dumb."

"Someone who doesn't want to change, won't, if they don't think they need to." Dwalin says gruffly as they near the office. "Hopefully we can get through to the lad before he gets as bad as Thorin once was."

"Why, how bad was he? From what I've seen he's not the most social of people."

"Oh, you have no idea. Remind me to tell you some of it after this crap fest."

Cricket had fell asleep on the bed flanked by both the boys, asleep as well, dried tear tracks on her face that Dawn was wiping off softly with a damp rag, exhaustion finally taken its toll on her. Dis was on the other side, running her hand through Conners soft curls with a look of deep concentration on her face, tinged with sadness, as she looks over both of the boys wrapped around her daughter by bond. Once the men had left Cricket had broken down once more, so upset that she had accidently let out the little bit of information that would lead to whatever they now had planned for Fili. Later she would be relieved that she no longer had to keep the secrets that she did, but at the time being all it did was cause her pain.

"What will they do to him?" Dawn asks the dwarrow lady quietly, not wanting to risk waking the three asleep between them. For now rest was the best thing for all of them, though for different reasons.

"You know, at any other time I would probably have an answer for you." Dis answers just as softly, not looking away from the small boy beside her as he snuggles deeper into Crickets side. "Unfortunately, the tradition Dwalin will most likely claim as his reason for grabbing Fili has always been male only. The females of the royal line were considered to have too much common sense to need to take part. If I had to guess, they'll some how give him a scare, rough him up a little. I have to admit, I feel like giving him a beating myself for pulling a stunt like he did."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty angry at him for knocking up my little girl and causing her to hurt like this, but is it really such a big deal here that he did? Is sleeping with people when not married that bad?"

"It's…complicated to explain. It is done, just not something we talk about, and generally those who do are either extremely careful about it, or some sort of deal is made so a child can be conceived if the husband is unable to father a child. Even then, if a child is born out of wedlock the mother is guaranteed help to take care of it if the father isn't able to for whatever reason, as rare as children can be here. The royal family is supposed to follow those rules to a t, and most of the time are still innocents by the time they are finally married. Fili was unfortunately raised away from most of these rules, and I guess I didn't do a good enough job teaching him to respect a woman he cares for." The last part has her looking extremely distressed, and Dawn reaches across to pat her hand comfortingly as one mother to another. "I lost two children before I finally had Kili, and all of my friends and family mourned with me what could have been, my husband most of all, so I understand what she's going through. I only wish she could have been here to have the support and companionship of the mountain and the company to help her through. Not that that I think she didn't have support from you, a mother is the best support in the world. But I have no doubt the original company would have moved mountains to make sure she was constantly looked after, and it would have been good for Fili to see the consequences of his actions in person."

Dis looks back up at Dawn after finishing, eyes narrowing in confusion when it seems at first as if the woman in front of her was partially transparent, flickering for a moment before she blinks and everything is back to normal. She assumes that it's just a trick of the candle light and doesn't bring it up, but watches the woman in front of her a bit closer as she speaks. "I hate to say it, but I wish she had been here too. I was a state and a half away when I found out, her sister had a child to take care of already and her one real friend could only stay a couple of days before she needed to go back to college. I managed to come down for a couple of days, but had to come back way too soon to keep Jace on his school schedule. She had to recover for the most part on her own."

"I cant even fathom that…not that your daughter isn't a strong woman, especially considering all the stories I've heard about her, but a miscarriage can mess with you more than you might think. From what you said she didn't know about it till it was too late, but it doesn't matter. Your body still tells you something very wrong happened, and your emotions run amok like nothing else. Even with my husband, my brother, Fili and everyone else at the Blue Mountains there for me, it took a very long time for me to finally go back to being myself. Something tells me she's held things in for a while."

"Mamma Cricket feels sad." A voice says sleepily below them, and both look down to see Conner barely awake and looking at them as he cuddles in closer. "She keeps trying to ignore it, but I can feel it sometimes. She's afraid to lose anyone else because it hurts too much."

"She must really miss Bofur." Dis says sympathetically. "I remember when my husband died, I still miss him. He was the love of my life."

"S'not just Bofur." Conner replies, falling back asleep as he voice goes softer. "Can't see the others, they're hiding behind a bright light, but she misses them. Thinks its her fault…" He finally drifts off back to sleep, leaving the two women with a lot to think about. Who else had she lost that she felt the need to hide behind a wall of light?

Fili finally came back to consciousness slowly, head aching as he struggled to adjust to the well lit room he was now in. The last thing the prince remembered was looking at Dwalin before there was a sharp knock to the back of his head, then nothing but black. When he finally was able to make out details, he realized he wasn't alone in the room, but instead there was 5 other people in there with him. He was understandable confused and slightly alarmed.

He should have been a lot more nervous than he was.

"Owww…what's going on? Did you find whoever hit me in the head?" He askes when he recognizes his brother. "Did it take this many people to catch them? Is it another assassination attempt?"

Thorin, Dwalin, Nori and Donald look down at him with unreadable expressions on their faces, while Kili just looks a bit confused. The only thing Dwalin had told him was that they were enacting the old tradition and that they needed him there, he still had no idea what his brother had done. Thorin had been told by Nori on the way to the office, and was glad he had years of practice on his poker face, because at the moment he was inwardly seething at the recklessness of his heir. Dwalin and Donald stood next to one another, both arms crossed as they glared down at him.

Nori was still the scariest one there.

"No Fili, there's no assassination attempt this time." Thorin says, stepping forward. "We've ran into a little…issue, and Dwalin here decided all of us need to have a little chat. After hearing why, I have no objections."

"Ehhhh…. All right. What about, exactly?" He asks glancing at Kili curiously, merely getting a shrug saying he was just as confused as his older brother. For the first time, Fili notices that he's the only one sitting, but doesn't make an attempt to stand.

"Lets take a bit of a step backward first. Back when we were still on the quest to take back the mountain, did anything…happen, you feel we might need to know? Even the smallest thing might be important."

Fili looks back and forth between Thorin and Kili confusedly, then at Donald, wondering why he was there for anything pertaining to mountain business. "Um…nothing that I can think of. Everything you needed to know, I told you. Can I maybe have a hint as to what I might have missed?"

Thorin stares at him for a moment before looking over at Nori and nodding, backing up to stand next to Kili as Nori comes forward to take his place. There's a glint in his eye Fili doesn't like, one usually saved for dumping incriminating information on his uncles desk, and he squirms a bit under the scrutiny. "Dwalin here took Cricket to the tombs this evening, as you might know, so she could pay her last respects to Bofur since she never got to. Understandably she was pretty upset about it."

"Of course." Fili says with a solemn nod, knowing how close the two had been.

"What Dwalin failed to realize was quite how upset she would get, and while trying to comfort her, he accidently made it worse and ended up carrying her crying back to her room."

"Is she ok? Does she need anything, is someone with her?" Kili asks worriedly, stepping forward with concern written on his face.

"She's not exactly good, but Conner and Jace cuddled with her on the bed as soon as she got back to the room to try and comfort her, and her and your Amad are there as well." Nori says, glancing over at the young prince. "While carrying her over, however, Dwalin and I overheard her murmuring about something through her tears...how she kept losing people…Bofur, someone named Conner…her baby…"

At the last part, both the princes go pale, Kili even walking forward to put a hand on Dwalins arm. "She…she lost a baby? When? She never mentioned it to us, not that I remember. Did sit happen while she was back in her own world?"

"It did." Donald finally throws in, glaring at the blonde prince full on, and Fili has to hold back a gulp at the discomfort that runs through him at the look. "In fact, it so happens she had it practically the same time she got back from here the first time. She didn't remember being pregnant, let alone sleeping with anyone to get that way. For the longest time she thought she had just gotten a lot drunker than she thought, slept with someone than forgot about it. We never brought it up because it just made her upset."

"So, why don't we try this again." Nori says, stepping forward and drawing the already pale Fili's face back to him. "Anything you feel like you need to tell us?"

"Oh Mahal." Fili gasps, finally catching on and losing any remaining color that was left in his face, mouth going dry as he realizes why he's in his position. "I…I didn't know. I…we…it was just once!"

"Apparently once is enough." Dwalin growls.

"What was enough? " Kili asks, upset but still not catching on to what his brother was being accused of. "Fee, do you know who slept with her?"

"Oh, he definitely knows. He had a front row seat." Nori says softly, and as it finally clicks for Kili he stares wide eyed at his brother in horror.

"Fee…you slept with her?" Fili doesn't answer, looking down at the ground in shame, and Kili presses on, voice growing louder. "What…what were you thinking? She was supposed to be our charge, we were supposed to be protecting her, keeping her safe! Even if we hadn't promised she was a member of our company, someone we were supposed to show respect to!"

"She didn't exactly need our help with protection." Fili muttered.

"That's not the point! And she still needed us, she was from a completely different world and had barely any idea about our customs, our laws, she had no idea where to go for anything….can you imagine if we were separated and the goblins or orcs got her alone? Or if instead of us being there when she arrived, the trolls did instead? What if she hadn't been there when we were escaping from Thranduils palace? It doesn't matter she can fight and defend herself, we were her friends and companions, and there to help her with whatever problems she might have!"

"What do you want me to say?" Fili finally yells back, looking up with anger and tears in his eyes. "At the time it just seemed like a good idea! We had all been drinking, and when I helped her to her room she was about to start crying, so I did the only thing I could think of to make it stop! She' a beautiful woman and it kind of…progressed from there. I'd had feelings for her for a while, so it just felt right."

"And with that stupid skin changers whiskey in her, she wasn't thing straight as it was." Nori adds in, holding out a flask in his hand. "Beorn added some sort of extra plant to it when he was brewing it, affects her differently than it does anyone else. I noticed it at his house, one drink had her acting completely different and off. She and Bard drank half the flask before she got back to the hall and drank more with everyone else."

"So if I'm getting all this right…" Thorin says slowly, walking up to stand in front of Fili, arms crossed and anger in his blue eyes, "My heir, who was taught from birth the way to act around and respect women of all races, who knows his every move will be scrutinized, took advantage of a woman who was not only under his protection but a member of our company, acting on his base desires in what he thought was an act of comforting her, when she was undeniably drunk and not thinking straight. Tell me, how did you both react when you awoke? No need keeping anything from us now, might as well get it all out in the open."

Fili looks at first as if he wants to argue and refuse to answer, but after a couple of seconds he slumps in his chair, eyes looking defeated. "I was scared. As soon as we both woke up I started freaking out about how everyone would react if they found out, about what you and Amad would do to me, about how I couldn't remember if I pulled out or not.."

"Obviously not." Nori coughs, gaining a half second glare from Dwalin which he shrugs off.

"I acted in a manner not befitting a prince of the Durin line."

"How exactly did Lady Cricket react when she woke up that morning?" Thorin asks curiously, arms still crossed over his chest.

"She was confused at first, but when she heard me freaking out she told me we didn't have to tell anyone if it worried me that much." He says morosely. "She acted far better than I did."

"She tried to make you feel better?" Dwalin asks incredulously. "Lad, sounds like ya failed on all accounts. Now due to your being a drunken idiot, the poor lass is passed out in her room from crying, she was so upset we knew what happened that night. Not only us, but your Amad, who was in the room when we brought her back and is probably still there now."

"Now the question is, what do we do with you?" Thorin breaks back in. "This isn't a crisis enough that the entire mountain needs to know obviously, but what you did can't go unpunished, especially considering it resulted in the loss of an innocent. Not only that, the person you disrespected was technically your ward and now your sister in bond, hurting due to a mistake that, while it did take the both of you to accomplish, you've been trained since you were of age to be able to still make decisions while inebriated and have a much higher tolerance than she could ever have. Not only that, but I've heard from Nori about the way you were acting in Dale this afternoon, making me believe there might be another problem, connected somehow, we need to deal with."

"He hurt her!" Fili snarls, much to their surprise. "He broke her wound and made her bleed again, I was trying to protect her!"

"He had no idea about her wounds, and was only happy to see her. Not only that, but as soon as he realized it he apologized and offered to escort her to the palace and have his personal healer take a look at her." Thorin breaks back in, eyebrow cocked as Kili paces in the background. "Apparently you were angry the entire time, questioned King Bards honor when he was going to take her to the healer as well as his intentions. Whatever your problem is with him needs to be fixed, before we have dinner with him at Dale in a couple of days, else you need to learn how to pretend."

"He's attracted to her and I don't like it." Fili mumbles under his breath. "He takes too many liberties with her."

"Hugging her in public, when practically the entire city knows what she did? Escorting her like a gentleman through the city since she doesn't know her way around, and having his guards surround the entire party for their safety? Liberties indeed. He is our ally, Fili, and should be respected as such. Jealousy is never a pretty thing nephew. You seem to care for her a great deal, but you need to get it under control. That's one of the reasons we're here tonight."

"I'll take whatever punishment you think I deserve." The heir says softly, hanging his head. A split second later he's punched in the face by Donald, and would be knocked backward if not for the wall behind him. Stars dance in front of his eyes for a couple of minutes before he manages to come back to his senses, jaw aching from the swing. "What was that?"

"Good was what it was." Donald says with a gleam in his eye as he cracks his knuckles, Dwalin nodding beside him.

"As the male of Lady Crickets family, he had every right to strike you for disrespecting his daughter. However, as she has an adopted family here as well…there are others here with every right to, as they say, beat the shit out of you." Thorin says with a grim smile. "Because of this, tomorrow you will come to the sparring area, and fight bare knuckled with the people chosen as Crickets champions as she is in no position currently to defend her own honor. You will fight each of them, one after another, whether you win or not. Anyone watching will be told that you're going though endurance training. If you can't behave at the dinner, you get to do it all over again with a mix up of opponents. Any questions?"

"I…no, uncle. Only, might I know who my opponents are?"

"I suppose, not that it will help you any." Thorin chuckles darkly, sending shivers down Filis spine. "Normally Lady would have the choice in her champions, but as she is indisposed at the moment, I believe I made a decent choice for her. Two will be volunteers, who I admit are perfectly acceptable choices if I do say so myself." Nori and Dwalin both step forward at this, both with chilly smiles on their faces while Donald smirks at the look of horror that crosses Filis face. "I would have asked Donald here, but he has admitted he would rather let others have their chance, as long as he gets to observe. The third I had Nori here explain the situation to, and Bifur was more than happy to accept."

"See ya bright and early lad." Dwalin says gruffly as Fili grips the sides of his chair tightly, very aware of just how much trouble he was in with opponents chosen for him. All three were perfectly dangerous in their own way, all three very willing to kick his ass.

He'd be very lucky if he could walk tomorrow when it was all over with.

Dis starts when the door to Crickets room creaks open, revealing a highly upset looking Kili. Dawn had finally given in and taken Jace to their room to sleep when Dis assured her that she would stay there with her, far more used to a lack of sleep and not having to watch a child in the morning. She was curled up in a chair next to Crickets bed reading a book when Kili entered, putting it down as he closes the door behind him.

"Hello son…I assume your interrogation is done? You didn't rough your brother up too badly did you?"

"No Amad." The brunette says softly, walking up to the bed and sitting on the edge, watching the two sleep with a deep look on his face. "The only one who got a hit in was Donald."

"As was his right as her family."

"I suppose. The real beating comes in the morning, when uncle has him bare knuckle fighting with Dwalin, Nori and Bifur, one on one right after each other. Is it horrible that I want to hit him too, but at the same time I don't want to watch him get beat?"

"No honey, it's not." She says, leaning forward and patting his cheek sympathetically. "You're stuck in a bad situation, where one person you care about hurt the other. It's natural to have conflicting emotions."

"I guess I just don't understand why he did it. You taught us from the time we could talk to be respectful and to always keep control of ourselves, even when we drink. Mahal, you were the best teacher we could have in that, even better than uncle! Both of us have even stopped ourselves before when temptation came our way, no problem, but for some reason he didn't control himself when it came to her. She even tried to keep it a secret so he wouldn't get in trouble. I just…he wanted to talk after everything, but I couldn't, I was afraid I would punch him in his big nose."

"If it helps, you have three people doing it for you tomorrow. I know you don't want to watch, so maybe instead you could keep Cricket company for me while I send a reply letter to King Bard about dinner. It was very nice for him to invite all of us after all, so he deserves a fast reply." When her youngest merely nods, she sighs and ruffles his hair. "She'll be fine, I promise. She just needs to have people around who care about her, to help her keep her thoughts on happier things. Remember, it's just another type of injury, like her orc wounds…they need time to heal. It helps that from what I've seen she's far from the damsel in distress type, but she'll still need help…so just be there for her, all right?"

"I can do that." Kili says finally after a moment of silence, looking down at his bond sister still with a fond yet worried expression. "I could take her somewhere and show her what Conner can do so far, she'd like that. Besides, there's no telling how different they'll be with her there to complete the bond. I could take her to finally see her real quarters as well…all of the stuff she left here last time is up there. Just take her mind off of everything if I can. That's what brothers are for, right?"

"Right!" Dis says, beaming at her kind hearted son. "That's exactly what you do. I say after breakfast tomorrow, after taking her up to her apartments, you get her out of this stuffy old mountain and out into the open air, maybe take her to the forest so you can safely let Conner change where the elves can keep an eye out for the three of you, then once you get back we can have her pick out the materials for a new dress to wear to King Bards palace in a couple of days for the dinner we were all invited to. Then the next day her and her mother can have a relaxing girls day with me, have a mud bath, a massage, just a day away from all of the, no offense son, males around here. What do you say?"

Kili grins slightly back, still a bit upset by his older brothers actions but letting his Amad cheer him up with her reasoning of how to cheer Cricket up. "It sounds like a solid plan."

"By the way…I was wondering…you were there when Cricket went back home, correct?"

"Yes, we had just taken down Azog…why do you ask?"

"When it happened, did she flicker in and out, but not notice?"

"No, Fili barely touched her and got shocked, then she just kind of….faded away. She definitely knew it was happening, though. It was all so sudden, and there was no warning at all, just a feeling like she had been struck by lightening, then…she was gone. Why do you ask? She wasn't fading away, was she?"

"No no no, nothing like that." She assures her son, who had been taking on a worried look again. "I just thought I saw something strange earlier and wanted to ask, that's all. Why don't you head on to bed, and now that I know everything is settled I can do the same. I can even wake you up the same time I come down to wake Cricket…go on then, she's safely asleep for now." Dis manages to herd her son out of the room, blowing out the remaining candle before leaving herself and shutting the door behind her.

As she walks down the hall, it occurs to her that while Jace and Dawn had in fact both been flickering, Cricket and Conner had been perfectly normal.

 **Remember, reviews make me update faster because i know you actually enjoy the story...later!**


	10. Taking a Beating

**Sorry for the wait, but between having major back issues and major writers block, my muse decided to take a holiday. I will likely start realeasing shorter chapters like this, that way i can still progress the story and not kick myself trying to write a huge chapter each time.**

"Come on lad, get up, you're done."

Dwalin offers the beat up young prince a hand, having finally finished his three rounds with Crickets champions. He was currently kneeling in the dirt and breathing heavily, bleeding from several paper thin cuts across his body and covered with bruises that would color his entire body black and blue by the next morning. As well, there was a cut on his scalp that was slowly dying his golden locks dark red, even with it tied back with a strip of leather. "Even if you aren't going to see Oin, we need to get you washed up so you can start cleaning your wounds. Your Amad would skin me alive if any of those got infected, even if she is upset with you."

Fili takes the offered hand, hauling himself to his feet slowly to avoid falling back over from light headedness, half using his sword as a crutch. Once his vision stops swirling, he takes a chance and glances over to the side where both Nori and Bifur are watching him, faces expressionless, and he can't help the shudder that runs through him, knowing it will be a long time before he forgets just what all he was put through today, with all of Dwalins warriors in training watching.

As a prince, Fili was trained from a young age to fight, to defend himself from the various dangers he would come across in his travels as both a dwarf and the heir to the Durin throne. Thankfully he actually had an aptitude for it, much like his brother did for archery, else the story of his life might have gone differently. The problem with being a prince, however, is that often the people you spar with won't throw their whole being into it, afraid of getting into trouble for hurting the heir to the throne. Dwalin was the one person they sparred with who never had that problem, mostly because he was their teacher in the first place, and believed you couldn't get better without facing a true challenge. However, going into his trials today, while Fili knew both Nori and Bifur were accomplished fighters, he had never fought them himself and therefore had only the briefest of ideas of what he had gotten himself into.

That would never be a problem again, however, after today.

Nori, usually the most easy going of the company, kept his smile on his face during their entire run, but instead of it looking pleasant and laid back, it was the smile of someone who would watch curiously as a poison slowly made its way through your system, excited to see the results. While he generally would fight with a bow staff, he was just as accomplished with a set of razor sharp and thin daggers that he decided to use today, the reason for all the paper thin cuts across Fili's body. Using his speed to his advantage, he would dart in and out of Fili's range, hitting him with the hilt of one of the daggers before coming back and slicing him over various parts of his body, causing brief but intense flicks of pain where ever the dagger landed. By the time the fight was over, Nori standing over Fili's body with both daggers resting over his neck, each and every one of the cuts had a tiny bit of blood trickling from them, the only reason Fili hadn't passed out earlier being that Nori hadn't coated his daggers with anything for once.

After all, he didn't want him to die. That wasn't the point of this little exercise.

Bifur had a much different approach than Nori, but just as dangerous. He didn't bother smiling either, he just went straight to work. See, before he had the axe embedded into his head, he had been considered quite the fighter, lethal and able to take out whole waves of goblins by himself, all while wielding a battle-axe nearly bigger than himself. Afterwards, people had a habit of underestimating him, considering him less than his was before, all because he could no longer speak in the common tongue. The truth was, he was just as dangerous as before, now simply more likely to run straight forward into fights without a second thought, screaming at his enemies in a language most couldn't understand, lending to the vision of him being touched in the brain all the more. In his fight with Fili, this translated to a relentless assault with his axe, coming down again and again, not letting up, leaving room for Fili to do nothing but defend. By the end, his hands were slicked with sweat from trying to constantly block the axe with his short swords, starting to go numb from gripping the handles so tightly, and Bifur finally smacks him upside the head with the flat side of the axe, knocking him the ground and walking away silently, going to join Nori on the sidelines while Dwalin waited for Fili to get back up so he could take his turn.

They had plan when Dwalin was going to take a turn just right, considering all three knew that Fili likely wouldn't be able to hold a weapon once Bifur was done with him. As he was using nothing but his fists, they all decided that he would go last. Dwalin, while known for being accomplished with all types of weapons, quite enjoyed bare knuckle fighting, but no one seemed to be willing to ever spar with him that way, mainly because he was one of the strongest dwarves known of in the nation. Considering how stout and sturdy dwarves were known for being, that was saying something. By the time Fili had finally made it back up, Dwalin had stripped off all of his armor except for a pair of loose leather breeches, cloth strips wrapped around both sets of knuckles as he popped each of his joints, watching as the prince stumbled around and got his bearings, finally standing up straight and catching his breath, wincing as his sweat dripped over the fine cuts covering his body. When he notices Dwalin standing there with his fists wrapped he goes pale for a second, before closing his eyes and readying himself, raising his own fists at the ready, swaying slightly.

It doesn't last long. Several hits to the gut and sides, giving a moment to breath, then going back in with the same, a final two blows to the jaw and face, and it's over. There'll be a black eye to match the rest of the bruises on his body when the next morning rolls around. Dwalin lets the prince lay there unconscious as he turns to the onlookers, Donald among them, accepting a wet cloth from one of his young trainees. "All right, you've seen enough, everyone back to your training. There's nothing more to see here." Looking over at Donald he nods at him, getting one in return as the tall man turns and walks away. He frowns for a second as it looks like the man flickers in place, but blames it on a trick of the light as he turns back to the unconscious prince.

Looking over at Nori, he catches a small bottle thrown at him, uncorking it waving it under Fili's nose, causing him to wake it a start, closing his eyes and groaning in pain as all his injuries hit him at once. As his blood mixes with the dirt from the ground, the sweat turning it into a thick paste, he glares up at Dwalin with the eye not starting to swell. "Again?" He asks raspily, throat dry and in need of water. Despite his anger at Fili's lack of thinking, his heart fills with pride with the boy he trained finally growing up in front of him.

"Come on lad, get up, you're done."


	11. Her Quarters

"What do you think? It was pretty bare boned when we finally got to renovating it, and almost all of the furniture had to be replaced, but Amad took over in the decorating once we got it all rebuilt and clean. Sometimes Conner will even come up here when he's feeling down, we'll find him asleep on the bed."

Cricket looks around in wonder at the apartments Kili had led her up to, high above and to the side of the royal quarters. It had an alcove leading straight out of the mountain, as it was almost right next to the side of it, with a large balcony just the right size for Conner to land on if flying in from the outside, as well as a pole going straight down into, apparantly, the room she was using now, hidden behind a large curtain made to look like her changing area. Conner had gleefully showed her how it worked, sliding down in his child form then flying back up in a small version of his dragon form, wrapping his self around her shoulders and purring loudly, burrowing into her neck.

"Kili, it's beautiful! I can't believe you went to all this trouble, I thought it was honestly just going to be my own room, for me and Conner. This though…this is amazing!"

She was very glad that Dis had taken over the decorating, as if any of the company had done it, there was a chance it would end up very Spartan in nature and looks, likely with nothing but weapons and various nick-nacks everywhere. As it was, there was a large Queen sized bed on a beautiful mahogany frame, a plush feather mattress on top with a dark blue and silver comforter set, sheets and pillows. The entire room was done up in the same blue and silver theme, the furniture all made of the same mahogany wood with soft cushions, table runners, candles sitting in silver ewers, rich fabric draping the walls in a slate blue, the carpet a dark chocolate brown. While there were weapons in the room, they were her own from her last visit, up on the wall and crossed over one another, right over her armor from the war, displayed on a mannequin.

"When we went back to the tents Thranduil had let us use, it was lying on the bed, next to Antons bag." Kili had explained where she had turned to him, confused on how they had it when she had wearing it the moment she disappeared. Speaking of which, said bag was sitting inside of the closet carved into the stone, along with a surprisingly large number of clothes and shoes, likely from Dis commissioning multiple seamstresses to correctly equip her for any occasion. The outfit that she received in Rivendell was hanging in there, and she strokes one of the sleeves lightly, remembering better times, when the company was whole and still in good spirits.

"Are all of them like this?" She asks curiously as Conner shifts in midair and lands on the bed in human form, bouncing once before lying spread eagle and grinning at the other two.

"I'm honestly not sure. Uncle sent builders to each location after informing who ever was in charge of the situation, and the builders made sure each set of quarters was cleaned and built. After that, each leader was given an amount of gold to use on equipping the room, which they were to do while the builders still there, and were told to make it tasteful, like a royal guest room, with a small area for weapons. Only once they were finished would the builders leave, so Uncle could be sure the instructions were followed. The only place they had trouble was Minas Tirith, since there is currently no king, those in charge were quite against listening to a dwarf. Other than that though, they're all done. Likely they will all vary depending on the area."

"I knew I made it a demand during the stupid war, but I didn't think it would be this big a deal." Cricket says, stepping out of the closet and looking at the sheepish dwarf prince, smiling at him. "I just thought it would be a good way to spend my share of the gold, since there was a chance I wouldn't be here to spend it. I wanted to make sure Conner was taken care of, and it seemed the best way to do it."

"You're both family." Kili says with a shrug. "We take care of family, and if that's what you wanted, we were going to make sure it happened, to our full ability to do so. And if you were going to spend your own gold to do it…well, it was going to deserve every bit of gold spent. And honestly it wasn't even a question of whether Conner was going to be taken care of, it was more of would I still get any time with him if I can never drag him away from her. She zeroed in on him as a child who needed love and mothering, two things she was amazing at, and took him under her wing from the start."

"She hugged me a lot." Conner chimes in, rolling off the bed and going to stand next to her, taking her hand and looking up. "She gave me lots of hugs, and made sure I ate plenty of food, tucked me in at night…held me when I was sad and missed you…she made sure I knew I was loved."

"Then I owe her more than I thought." Ashley says quietly, going down on one knee and taking him in her arms, squeezing tightly before raising back up, Conner still held by her. "I knew Kili would do that, but having her help makes me feel a lot better."

"We all tried to help." Kili says, leading her to the bed and helping her sit down on it, sitting next to her as Conner cuddles into her lap. "It only felt right. Whether it was babysitting, teaching, lending him a hand or just giving him company, there was always one of us around. Even at Thrandiuls palace, either me or Legolas would be with him."

"I owe all of you then." She says, laying her head on his shoulder. "For making sure he was always loved and welcome when I couldn't be there to do it. I only wish I knew what brought me here in the first place so I could figure out a way to control it. I hate thinking that I could be dragged away at any moment. But, it does help knowing he won't be alone. Thank you…all of you."

"That's what family is for." He says, laying his head on hers and taking her hand, looking at one of the fingers curiously. "By the way, where did you get this ring? I've never seen you wear it before."

"I'm not sure." She says, looking at the ring as well, voice soft. "I think I woke up to it being there, but it feels natural there, like it's been there forever, so I left it on. It might just be I put it on before we went to the tombs and forgot. It is pretty though, like you said, for being so simple looking. It has all these shimmery looking runes inside the band, and on the top as well if you look at it in the right light."

"Hmmm." They both go silent after that, enjoying a quiet that one rarely gets in the mountain as they sit there. "How would you feel about taking a trip to the Greenwood tomorrow, so Conner can show off? He's been wanting to show you how big he's gotten and everything he's learned so far from the elves, and there he can transform with worrying about freaking anyone out."

"Just us?"

"Until we get to the edge of the woods, it will be us and a guard or two. Once we reach the woods we're under the elves protection. Uncle insist on guards until then, however. Unless we sneak out, which will get all three of us into trouble."

Cricket chuckles. "You say that like you've gotten caught before. But yea, that sounds good. I'd like to see how much the rest of the middle earth has changed, and I'm really up for seeing Conner in full dragon mode. Can I fly him?"

Kili grins at that, a grin that reminds her of when they were all throwing food around Bilbo's table and singing loudly, and she can't help but grin right back at him. "That, I can guarentee."


	12. Meanwhile at the Greenwood

"How did she look?"

"Better, to be honest, but she had just woken from the healers table after being stabbed, shot and poisoned, so all things considered she was doing very well."

"What about her reconnection with Conner? I thought I felt a vibration of power about the time you say she arrived, but at the time I wasn't sure what it was."

"Explosive, and bright. It was as if the bond had been stretched so thin, that the moment they were back together the power rebounded outwards. As their bodies merged for a moment, her skin seemed to form scales, and there were translucent wings on her back, though from my point of view it looked almost like there were two sets, one feathered and one like a dragons. Her canines sharpened to points, and her eyes were glowing a bright blue, with no iris showing at all. The wave of power you felt was from her roaring along with Conner, right before she passed out."

Thranduil takes all of this in, looking out towards the woods he rules over as his son reports what he saw while escorting Kili and Conner back to the mountain. Though he had been researching the possible source of her journey to and from their world, he wasn't sure she would ever actually return.

Yggdrasil was often choosy on who it allowed to traverse her rainbow bridge, no matter what the power was used to do so, and more so than not a traveler was only allowed once to this particular world. It was why the elves were hesitant to leave for their home world of Alfheim, as there was a very high chance they wouldn't be allowed back. Thranduil was one of two who knew one of the secret passages back and forth, and even so he used it sparingly in case one day it was blocked to him. His son had only been to their home world once, but they way things were going they may be moving on soon, as the Men were growing much more rapidly then was expected.

The world they were on had originally been empty of life other than the flora and fauna, a tiny planet nestled near one of the upper branches of Yggdrasil, with only one main expanse of land and a scattering of islands in the ocean surrounding it. After discovering it, the other worlds had decided to send colonies to populate it, groups from each world willing to leave their homes to populate a new one, the main groups beings the dwarves, the elves, and a smaller mixed group of Vanir, Asgardians and Midgardians, though the latter had their memories tampered with to make them believe that they had always been there, the Asgardians and Vanir became like gods as they tried to lord their power over everyone, and everyone but the elves eventually forgot where they originally came from.

Several other races and creatures eventually made their way to the planet, though as the others before they eventually forgot their original home, and thus forgot their way back. Not only that, but once there, a small portion of the various beings evolved, changed, with no exact reason why. Some men changed into what were now known as halflings, a fire giant burrowed himself deep into the earth, under a great mountain, and went immediately to sleep as he was unlikely to be disturbed unless an unfortunate soul dug deep into said mountain. Eagles and other creatures grew in size and intellect, a select few prideful Asgardians became known as gods and creators to the races whose memories left them, and five Vanir stayed permanently on the planet and became known as great wizards.

Two dark elves eventually made their way to the world as well, becoming the greatest threats the peoples would ever know.

The light elves, however…they never forgot, never changed, staying for the most part away from the others who had lost themselves, splitting themselves into three sections of the mainland, each with their own ruler, their own laws and their own way of living. Each also kept a small library from their original home, with information not known to the other races. This made it much easier for Thranduil to research dragon types and Crickets mysterious traveling, as dragons were not native to the world in any way.

"Is there anything else you can tell me, something you noticed the others might have not? Any little thing might be important."

Legolas pauses, thinking for a moment as he stands there, still in his dusty riding clothes as he came straight to his fathers office when he arrived at the palace. "She seemed sad, somehow, like she had lost someone important and was barely over it, if at all. Not only that, but she had apparantly forgotten everything about being here while she was home, only remembering in brief flashes she thought were dreams." Then, he narrows his eyes slightly as another detail comes to him. "Her family, they came with her this time, her mother, step-father and brother…but something was off. No one else was looking at them when Conner and Cricket connected, but I was behind them, and couldn't help but notice…they kept flickering in and out slightly, almost as if a spell wasn't being concentrated on wholly and it was losing it's power. The moment she passed out the flickering stopped, however. Why do you think that is?"

Thranduil frowns slightly, not having heard of something like that in some time. "It sounds familiar, but I would need to double check my resources to be sure. I will also need to look into the memory loss, it almost sounds like what the people who originally colonized this planet went through, but they never recovered their memories. When do you think you will have a chance to see them again?"

"I had planned originally on going back once I told you what had happened and rested a bit, but now I believe I might give her some time. She will need to rest and reclimate herself to our world, as well as her family. Once she has had sufficient time to heal, I will make my way back. And, if anything, Lady Dis will surely have her attend the Treaty Renewal Feast, as she is now technically a member of the Durin family. Who knows, Kili may even bring her here to show off Conners abilities, show her how big he's gotten. I bet she would enjoy flying, and now that they're together again Conner will have a rider who can go invisible with him."

"That's true." The lord of the Greenwood says with a half smile. "Perhaps we might still convince her to marry you."

"Father, not this again."

"Don't worry, I won't ask her for you again. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try for it yourself, especially as the dwarf is no longer a viable choice. Marrying her would go a long way into solidifying an alliance with the dragons, if any other than Conner still exist. And the dwarves, I suppose."

"I'll take it under consideration."

"Good. Now, go wash up and eat, then get some rest, you look dead on your feet."

"Thank you, father, I will." As Legolas turns and leaves his office, closing the door behind him, Thranduil breathes deeply before walking to his bookshelf, lifting his hand to bring down a dark blue tome, hearing a click as he does. The bookshelf then easily slides to the left to reveal another room, kept behind a door locked by a blood spell. Pricking his finger, Thranduil lets a drop touch the door, walking into the room as the door opens, letting it close behind him before lighting the torches. Inside the room was his personal library from his home world, as well as various other scrolls and artifact, the largest being a tall, ornate silver mirror etched with runes, large enough for a person to walk through, and his way of traveling to the others realms.

Walking past it all, he goes to a second desk, this one only holding two books, a lamp, and a notepad and pen with several notes already written on it. The book currently open was a book on dragon types, an ancient text that was now only being held together by a spell, while the other was a book on various types of powers that could enable transportation. Both books, though the other was closed at the moment, were marked in specific chapters, ones that he had been looking deeply into lately, especially since Conner had been showing more of his powers, though dimmed from the lack of his bond mate.

The chapters were marked Celestial and Shadow, and if he was right, were very good reasons for him to keep tabs on the newly returned dragon knight and her dragon.


	13. Discussion at Dinner

Thorin had agreed that their little trip to the Greenwood was a very good idea, much to everyone's surprise. The only condition he had was, if they insisted on going without a guard regiment, that they wait until after the dinner with Bard, so that her wounds had a little bit more time to heal. That, and that not only would the elf prince would meet them at the edge of the woods and escort them the rest of the way, that they would race as fast as possible at the first sign of danger. He might not have even agreed to that, if not for the fact he was relatively sure they would have snuck off on their own if he hadn't, despite the consequences that might await them.

The good news was that Oin was fairly sure she would be pretty much completely healed by then, with only some lingering pain from the area of the original wounds. She could get around easier every day that passed, a feat that was clearly shown by her climbing the stairs to see her actual quarters. Sure, she might have been extremely tired afterwards, and Dis may have found her asleep later with Conner in her arms, but it was something.

The bad news was that he was letting them go to the damned Greenwoods in the first place, back to that stupid elven king who tried to marry Cricket to his son, who would have a perfect chance to try and woo her into staying once more. Thankfully she had enough sense to not believe a word that came from his honeyed lips, but it wouldn't stop him from trying. She did need to see what Conner could do, however, and the woods were the best place for that, protected by the elves from any that might try and spy on them.

It didn't mean Thorin had to like it, however. Any more than he liked the dinner coming up tomorrow night, the one with Bard and his family. After the talk with Fili, and his subsequent punishment, he wasn't as nervous as he could have been, but the fact remained it was still going to be the most awkward dinner ever. And there was still the chance that his heir could feel strongly about any moves made towards his sister by adoption, especially if he still felt romantically about her.

Thorin frowned heavily at that thought. That was a situation he wanted to avoid, if at all possible. Fili pursuing her romantically would bring nothing but heartache for both of them. Perhaps it was time to start bringing up the idea to his sister of finding possible marriage matches for him, to further cement his role as the King under the Mountain when Thorin was no longer able. It would need to be someone from a strong bloodline, with no previous issues with being barren, as she would be responsible for the future of their family name. He winces as the thought pops up unwittingly that that was another reason Cricket would be a poor match for Fili, and pushes it to the side at once. It wasn't her fault, after all, and she didn't even know how long she would be here this time, or her family.

He sighs, and his thoughts turn back to the upcoming dinner…

He really needn't have worried, though it was his prerogative to do so, and he had every reason for it in the world. The only bad thing that really happened was that both her parents ate something that didn't agree with them, and ended up staying at the mountain instead of coming with them, leaving Jace in her capable hands after Cricket convinced them she could handle both boys. Dis also promised to give her a hand, and after forcing both Conner and Jace to wear nice clothes, consisting of fine looking tunics, leggings and little silver belts, they all loaded up into a large, fancy wagon surrounded on all sides by royal guardsman and Dwalin and rode down to the renovated Dale. Thorin and the brothers rode on horses in the front, while Dis, both the boys and Ashley rode in the wagon, soft pillows and blankets underneath them.

Dis had a bit of a fun time playing dress up with Cricket, though she didn't go too far, and the two women were actually wearing matching but opposite dresses in slate blue and grey, and she even been talked into wearing a bit of jewelry after finding some that wasn't gold. Kili had eventually came to the rescue and pulled the necklace holding one of Conners scales out of her bag, which she saw and immediately pulled him into a hug for it, then pulled on and vowed not to take off unless she had to. Jace and Conner on the other hand were clearly not happy with their clothing choices, and pulled on their tunics the entire ride down, frowns on their little faces.

"Why do we have to wear these?" Jace whined as they entered the city, putting a finger in his collar and pulling it out a bit. "They're so tight! What if I eat too much and it breaks?"

"It won't." Conner assures him, though he's just as unhappy. "Bombur wears them every once in a while, and he eats more than anyone I know! They'll just loosen the belt if our tummies get bigger."

"But why are we wearing belts? We're not even wearing pants! We look silly."

"You look fine." Dis assures them, smile on her face as out of the corner of her eye she sees her boys doing the same thing as their younger counterparts. "This is how we dress up here, Jace, that's why Thorin, Kili and Fili are dressed the same. I assure you, they don't like it either, but they do it anyway to show our host respect. It's the same reason Cricket and I are wearing nice dresses and jewelry."

"I still don't like it." Jace pouts, crossing his arms and leaning back into a pillow, bottom lip out. "And everyone else gets a sword! Why don't we get swords?"

"Cricket gets a sword because it belongs to her, and she is recognized here as a hero by the people." Dis responds patiently, smirking at Crickets blush as she looks out at the city, Conner next to her. "I don't have a sword (not mentioning the daggers kept on her person at all times), and the others are expected to wear them as part of their dress. Can you honestly say you wouldn't be hitting everything in sight if we let you keep just your wooden ones on your belt?" When neither answer she grins triumphantly. "And that is why you don't have them. If you're good, when we get back you can play with them before you go to bed. Do we have a deal?"

Both of them nod excitedly, and Cricket can't help but shake her head in amusement. "I can't help but think you've given that little talk before. Perhaps to the two riding beside us?" She looks over at the princes pulling on their own collars and smiles fondly at them, looking away before they notice. Fili had been acting strange towards her since the talk he had apparently gotten, and she didn't want to make him feel off on purpose.

"Oh, many times. Especially after I gave in once, and learned why it was a bad idea first hand. I never did quite get that stain out of my dress. They're lucky honestly that I let them wear swords now." They both laugh at the idea of Dis getting on to all the boys for causing a scene and taking away the older ones swords as they pull up to the front of the palace, and Cricket smiles at the sight of Bard standing there, his three children next to him, waiting to escort them all to dinner.

As he helps her down, she can't help but think that it will be a good night, and that she won't let Fili ruin it for her, even if he acts up like last time. As he takes her arm to escort her, Dis takes the hands of both the young boys with a quick wink at her, and they all walk to the dining hall.

Dinner was medium rare toast beef, with new potatoes, carrots, a mushroom soup and mixed salad, and after a brief interlude everyone had dug in, obviously the boys with the most gusto, but everyone had a fairly hearty appetite so it was no great chore at all to enjoy the food in front of them. They all sat at a large, well made wooden table in a room that overlooked a balcony, curtains drawn so that the only light came from candles and a roaring fire to the side. The children all sat together on one end, with Kili and Dis sitting next to them. Next to Dis sat Cricket, next to Kili sat Fili then Thorin.

Bard sat at the head of the table, with Cricket on his right and Thorin on his left. It was a seating that Fili didn't approve of in the least, but he wasn't going to say anything, no matter how much he seethed at seeing them that close. It just wasn't his place, and as a guest he must be on his best manners. Not to mention Thorin would gut him if he acted up.

"You seem to be getting around easier." Bard comments as he wipes his mouth, food forgotten for the moment as he eyes the young woman next to him. "How are your wounds treating you?"

"They're actually pretty much healed." Cricket admits as she looks over at him, taking a sip of the dark red wine and wishing she had some Sprite to mix with it, as it was a bit too strong for her liking but didn't want to seem rude. "It still hurts a bit if I move the wrong way, but it's gonna be like that for a while. Apparantly being a dragon bond mate comes with speedy healing. I'm not complaining, though."

"I can't say I blame you. I remember having to recover from an arrow wound to the gut…it was one of the most painful recovery periods of my life. I was lucky to have neighbors willing to help with the children, and throw a bit of food our way until I was able to go back out, and even then I moved slow for a long time in case I accidently bust my stitches."

"Kili and Fili were very good about helping her around, and being there in case she overtaxed herself." Dis throws in proudly, glancing over at the children as they hold their own conversation completely free from the adults, every once in a while catching a random word like horses, cookies or prank. "As well as helping with the children whenever they're around. It helps that the boys act much like they did at that age."

"I can imagine." Bard says with a chuckle, glancing at the children as well. "Conner was precocious enough the first time around, and now he has an accomplice to help him out? I shudder at the thought. They do seem to be enjoying themselves however."

"That they are." Cricket says fondly as they all laugh at a joke meant only for themselves.

"Are you looking forward to the upcoming Treaty Renewal Feast, King Bard?" Thorin asks, sipping on his own glass of wine as the cooks bring around desert.

"Please, just Bard here. It's just us, so there's no reason for formalities. And to answer your question…I am, but I dread it at the same time."

"Why are you dreading it?" Cricket asks curiously, as a tiny chocolate pie is set in front of her. "Isn't it just eating and resigning the treaty?"

"It is that, but there are many other details that go along with it." Bard says with a bit of a frown, looking at her. "It also involves playing nice with the other various lords invited, listening as most of them offer me their daughters hands in marriage, even if they're years away from proper marrying age. It involves watching Thorin and Thranduil ignore each others presence as much as they can, while at the same time pretending to get along for the treaties sake. It involves so much politics, with everyone around trying to get out ahead of someone else, and I hate politics, but as a king I'm required to put up with it to try and keep the peace. Every little thing you do and say will be judged by every person there, and lords have a way of making you feel small for every little flaw they might find. Does that sound fun to you?"

"Yea, no…not at all." Cricket says, eyes wide as she takes it all in. "How do you manage? How do you not just tell them all to back off and mind their own business? I'm sure if you poke them a couple of time with a dagger they'll go away."

"As tempting as that may sound…" Thorin says with a tiny smirk while both the princes snicker at the thought. "Poking the gathered nobles with a sharp object is something I highly suggest you not do, as most of them will claim you will either need to apologize for the dishonor of their lordly selves, or challenge you to an honor duel. And while I have no doubt you would win said duel, it would be a blot on the evening."

"Thorin would know." Dis says with an evil smirk. "Considering when he was younger he got into several of those honor duels with said lords, before he learned to hold his tongue and let me do the talking for a while. He's learned how to deal with them since then, but it took a great deal of time."

"Thank you Dis." Thorin growls, while his twin smiles innocently and takes a bite of her pie. "She is right, however. You need to treat them all with Indifference, let them know they can't get to you. I treat it like simply another type of battle, one fought with words instead of swords." He smiles for a moment, a dark one that shows a glint in his eyes. "Just act like you did at the war table and you should be fine, just without the table stabbing and yelling. It pisses them off when you don't rise to the bait, and I do enjoy pissing them off."

"The lords, Thranduil, anyone who thinks that they're better than everyone else."

Thorin glares at his sister, a glare that would have had a normal person melting under the gaze. "Yes, dear sister, thank you. I think they have the picture."

Unfortunately, it doesn't work on said dear sister. "Yes, I believe they do." She says with a wide grin, before turning to face Cricket. "You my dear, need to be especially on guard, as you're likely to be under a lot of scrutiny. Your clothes, your jewelry, your words, every bit of you must be tooled for this specific type of war, and you must use them to your best ability."

"Why would I be under scrutiny?" Cricket asks. "I'm nobody special, and even if I am adopted into your family I don't see the big deal. No one knows I'm a Dragon Knight, so that can't be it."

For the first time, Dis looks grim, and Bard actually looks angry for her. "They'll see you as a bargaining chip, to be frank." She says, and Fili grips his fork tightly. "Don't take me the wrong way, I'm happy to introduce you to the world as my adopted daughter, and the feast is the perfect place to do it. But it's not all roses, and once they see you as a part of our family, they'll want to use you to better their standing. I expect we'll get several marriage offers for you after the feast, if not during. They'll talk to you to try and get on your good side, then they'll talk to us. The Men will remember you from the battle for the mountain, those that were there, while those who weren't will treat you like a piece of property to be bought and sold. The dwarves will follow our traditions, which means they'll have to pass the muster of the males of your family, those that aren't biased against you. The elves….well, you know how Thranduil can be."

"Packs of wolves, that's what they are." Bard growls under his breath, and his finishes off his wine. "They keep on telling me how horrible it is my children are growing up without a mother, and how their daughter, or niece, or sister are so good with kids, that they would make a good replacement mother. Half the time it's a girl barely in her teens, frightened out of her wits, who have been told they need to marry me and be the power behind the throne."

"But you're smart enough to see what they're trying to do, and a good eno7gh person not to take advantage." Cricket says, trying to calm him down as his voice rises enough to draw the children's curiosity.

"It doesn't stop them."

"Not everyone there is a wolf." Thorin argues, everyones attention turning to him. "Some of them really would make good allies, while others you need to be careful around. We'll be able to whisper to you which is which, and try to keep you from the worst of them, but I believe you'll be up to the task of dealing with them."

"Like I'd accept a marriage proposal from any of them in the first place." Cricket says with a grimace, shuddering at the thought. "That's not how it works where I come from, and it's not how I'm going to get married now. Well, royals still do I suppose, but I'm not royalty. Except here apparently. Fuck. I'm really glad mom isn't here for this conversation, she'd be having a stroke." She takes a moment for a deep breath, glad the children were no longer paying attention. "What I'm trying to say is, even if there wasn't the ever looming threat of me just popping back to where I came from, I wouldn't be able to marry most of them anyway, because we're trying to keep Conner's true form a secret, and chances are they would question why Conner was always with me and eventually find out the truth. Then there would likely be mass panic until we could straighten things out and convince them he's a big sweetheart. So that's something I really won't have to worry about." Fili smiles at that, liking the way she was thinking.

"You make some very good points. Except for two things." Dis says, turning to Kili. "Didn't Legolas tell you something last time you went for training? Something you were excited about, excited enough you raced to my room the minute you came home?"

"What?" Kili is clearly caught off guard as he has his entire pie stuffed in his mouth when she asks him, but takes a couple of minutes to swallow it down before answering, a bit of chocolate on one side of his mouth. "Sorry. Yea, I remember. Thranduil had said he may have figured out a way for Conner and Cricket to control going back and forth, instead of letting whatever power brought her here control it. He said it had to do with what kind of dragon he is. Legolas said his father was planning on training Conner to use it, so they could find Cricket and bring her back."

"What if I had said no? I thought this was all a dream after all, very detailed dreams, but dreams none the less."

"I don't know, he didn't say. Hopefully he wouldn't have just taken you."

Everyone lets this thought settle in quietly, sobering them up. "If that's true…" Dis finally says, "The marriage question wouldn't be an issue for you anymore. It would leave you free to marry anyone you liked, though in your case it would limit you to people who already know about Conner. Luckily, those who do like him already." What isn't said is that there are a limited number of people in that category…namely, 3 or 4. One who happens to be the son of Thranduil. Two who happen to be sitting at the table.

Only two who really have a shot.

Cricket and Bard look at each other at the same time at the news, not knowing what to think, then both look away blushing. Only two people notice, but it's enough. Dis sees and smiles a secret little smile, the chemistry between the two vivid to her.

Fili sees, and crushes the ring kept in his little pouch to a mass of crushed metal.


	14. A wild plot appears

The next day, after a long discussion about how her family would be kept safe and entertained in her absence and not to worry, she set out towards the Greenwoods with Conner, Kili and Dwalin, the latter who would be separating from them at the edge of the woods into the hands of the elves. They rode at a faster pace than she expected, racing across the burnt plains that she could tell were being slowly developed into something useable, Conner riding with Kili while Cricket rode with Dwalin, still not quite used to riding horses. Because of that, since they were going at the pace they were, they didn't want to risk her riding by herself. The reason they were riding so fast was because they didn't want to risk another orc attack, as even though they had lessoned in the past year, becoming more sporadic, it was still a possibility.

Cricket, while she knew he was an excellent fighter, knew that even he could be overwhelmed if enough attacked together, and let out her concerns to him as he lowered her to the ground at the edge of the Greenwood. While he scoffed at her worry, he was secretly pleased that she was concerned for his welfare, though he refused to show it in front of the elves watching the exchange. "Don't worry too much Cricket." Kili called to her from his horse while Conner greeted their elfish guard. "Any Orcs he might meet should be more scared of him than he should of them. He is the commander of the guard for a reason, after all."

"I know." She says, pouting just a tiny bit as she watches the grizzled dwarf race back towards the mountain by himself. "It doesn't I have to like it. Sometimes it doesn't matter how good a fighter you are, if you can fight with others at your side you should." She frowns as she says this. For some reason she had wanted to say with your pack instead of with others, but for the life of her she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. Shaking it off she turns around to the small group behind her, smiling at the elf prince in front. "Hey Legolas, thanks for meeting us out here."

"It was no problem at all." He says, returning the smile. "I had thought you would be coming here soon to see what Conner has learned, considering there isn't really a good area around the mountain to do so without fear." He offers her a hand, lifting her up onto the horse behind him and making sure she's secure before turning the horse around and heading back into the woods, Kili and the other elves following behind as they head down the path. "How is it that you traveled these lands as long as you did and still don't know how to ride a horse by yourself?" He teases lightly, her hands firm on his waist as they tred through, keeping an eye out for spiders.

"I don't know. They always said they'd teach me how, but it never really happened." She says with a shrug. "I always ended up riding behind someone. In my defense I was never really given a chance, though."

"It might've come in handy when trying to ride Conner, though, in his true form."

"Well, I've flown on the King of the Eagles back before, doesn't that count?"

"Perhaps. Either way there isn't a saddle, so perhaps it will be easier than riding a horse."

She narrows her eyes at his still teasing tone. "Except you're flying who knows how high above the ground. Who knows, maybe once I hop on it will all come back to me, like riding a bicycle, and I'll be passing you all by while you ride your little horses."

"Probably so!" He laughs good naturedly. "Kili told me about these bicycles, by the way, and I must say I'm intrigued. Your world sounds quite different from ours."

"It really is. Toilets, boxes that keep food cool and frozen, television, air conditioning….so many things we take for granted." She says with a frown he cannot see, but feels in her tone.

"It happens when you change your surroundings so very suddenly. Often when I go hunting or camping I find myself missing my bed, fresh food or a hot bath, even different changes of clothes."

"Heaven forbid you have to wear the same pair of clothes for multiple days!" She says with a laugh. "Maybe there's something to Thorin always saying how vain elves are after all? I mean, I can definitely see it with your dad, he looks like he's never had a thread out of place."

"Father does enjoy dressing to show off." Legolas admits with a smirk, and she hears Kili snort behind her. "I can see the point, but if I can be comfortable I will, and leave the dressing up for major events, such as the treaty feast coming up. Speaking of, I assume the Lady Dis is planning to introduce you there as her adopted daughter? It would be the smart move, one father might have made if he hadn't decided to try and marry you to me already."

"Except Kili beat him to it. And yes, Dis has already taken my measurements for what she says is going to be the most beautiful gown I've ever seen and will remain a secret till the actual feast. I'm pretty sure she's having way too much fun playing dress up with me, since she never had a little girl of her own for it." She makes a face. "Dresses are ok, but I was honestly just glad to put on pants before we headed here."

Legolas has a hearty laugh at that, one she can't help but join in with as they ride over a bridge crossing the river, the laughs echoing over the water. "I can imagine, you look quite comfortable in pants. They will definitely be better for riding with Conner."

"Right? I'm glad someone understands. If I'm gonna be flying and fighting I wanna be able to move around, not worrying about whether or not I'm gonna flash everyone who looks up, or trip over my frilly skirt while trying to stab someone. It's just not practical."

"No, it's not. Luckily for you, the Treaty Feast is one of the few places that your fancy dress will be more practical than any armor, your wit and intelligence your weapon. It might not be the battle that you are used to, but that night will be a battle none the less."

Cricket goes quiet at that, listening to the sound of Conner talking to Kili and their guard elves behind her. Lady Dis had said much to her the previous night, before the revelation about Thranduil possibly being able to train Conner to travel back and forth, then the awkward silence when marriage was brought up and she managed to blush a shade of red darker than Bombur's beard.

The night had ended fairly quickly after that.

But it also made her think of something else that needed to be brought up, before they made it back to Thranduil. Glancing back for a moment to make sure Conner was occupied and happy with Kili and the other elves, she shoots him a tiny smile before turning back around to Legolas. Looking off into the distance she could see the forest was getting brighter. "Legolas….Kili brought up something the other night, something about your dad. It concerned me a little bit."

"What is it?"

"Something about figuring out a way for Conner to go back and forth between…worlds, I guess, because of what kind of dragon he is. That if he figured it out, he could bring me back. Problem is, I didn't remember any of this back home, I thought it was all a very detailed dream. If I had said no, would he of forced me back anyway?"

She feels him noticeably stiffen in front of her, and knows she hit a nerve. He takes a couple of seconds before answering, and when he does his words are guarded. "I like to think he wouldn't, that he 2ould take your wishes into account. But then again, father can be bad about putting his wishes first, as you have probably seen. Best case scenario, he would see if he could bring your memories back first with Conners help, and if it didn't work he would leave you be."

"And worst case?"

Legolas closes his eyes, gripping his reins tightly. "I don't think you would enjoy the worst case. I promise you though, I would try and convince him otherwise if I thought for a second that he would try anything like that."

Cricket squeezes him around the waist, trying to relax him. "I know you would. I just needed to ask." She chuckles darkly. "I guess I better understand the saying about ends justifying the means for some people. I do like to think that if my memories had came back, I would have kicked his ass for basically kidnapping me."

"I can see that as well." Legolas says, squeezing one of her hands softly before bringing his own back forward. "I dare say he would have deserved it for not respecting your wishes. I should probably warn you, though, before we make it to the palace, that he plans on having a long talk with you about something. I'm not sure what it is, but he's been in his office a lot more lately, doing research and locking himself in. I caught him muttering to himself once, saying that something was coming."

A chill runs through her body as he says this, one that she can feel all the way down to her bond, and goose pimples rise up on her arms and legs. "Well that's creepy as hell. Are you sure he just wasn't talking about me?"

"That's what concerns me, he didn't say it until you were already here. Whatever it is that's coming, he's worried about it."

They both go silent after that, lost in their own thoughts at the idea of Thranduil worried about something enough to lock himself in his office. Thranduil, who never showed any emotion but smug superiority, whose face at time could be carved from marble and who thought he knew what was best for everyone around him.

She didn't know what was coming, but it couldn't be good from the chill she felt when he mentioned it.

Unknown to anyone, in a room far beneath the mountain, where the mining had began once more, Fili was taking his frustrations out by swinging a pickaxe with all his might at the wall of rock in front of him. His uncle and king had warned him that he needed to shape up, to learn to control his emotions as he would need that control when he became king, but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't make the anger he felt go away, and it got worse every time he saw Bard and Cricket, his Cricket, together.

And now she was going off to spend time with the elves, with another male who was attracted to her, and it struck him to the bone. He had claimed her first, no one else had the right.

Pissed at everyone and everything, yet not willing to show it in case he was ordered another beat down, he had bribed the head miner into giving him access to one of their lowest tunnels still being worked on, as well as the privacy to vent his frustrations without being disturbed.

He had been swinging for four hours now, sweat covering him and the slightest amount of blood on his hands from his nails busting through his skin where he tightly gripped the pickaxe. His anger had dimmed slightly, though still strong as he would glance over at the now smashed ring sitting on top of the tunic he had thrown off before he began, a reminder of last nights events. He had even made a decent amount of progress from his swings, widening the tunnel out on both sides, even finding the beginnings of a silver deposit, not that he gave it much worry.

He finally felt a stir of..something, inside of him though, as he made a particurely hard swing and smashed away a crumbling area of rock, revealing a small, gleaming stone beneath. Gazing at it curiously, he feels the need emerging from him to get it out as soon as possible, and swings carefully around the stone to remove it from its rocky tomb, letting it fall into his hand once free.

It was a gem sized version of the arkenstone.

Same glowing white and blue color, same light shining from it, he felt a warmth as he held it, and a need to keep it with him always, even though he knew that he needed to bring it to his uncle. They had taken the previous arkenstone and chipped it away into 15 pieces, big enough to fit into a ring for each of the company, as well as a chunk in the gravestone for Bofur, then sold off the rest. What was interesting was that the mysterious draw the arkenstone had disappeared once it was broken apart, and it no longer felt like something that could hold power over you.

This stone was nothing like that. It was small and perfectly formed, the light still radiating from it, the perfect size to fit in his pouch next to the mangled ring, or even to fit on a necklace he could hand around his neck and under his tunic where it wouldn't be noticed.

As he stares at it, a strange blue glow overwhelms his eyes for a moment, before he blinks, realizing he's tired from swinging the pickaxe, as well as extremely hungry. Staring at it for a moment longer he nods to himself before placing the stone in a pocket sewn into the inside of his tunic, then throwing it back on and heading out of the tunnel for a bath and a meal.

Tomorrow, he thinks to himself as he walks. Tomorrow I'll bring it to Uncle and see what he thinks. For now however, it would stay close to him, even as he slept.

"My Lord, one of the imitation mind stones you sent to various planets has been found. The finder is keeping it close to his heart as we speak."

"Perfect." The voice is cold and calculating, and a smile accompanies it that small children fear in their dreams as they envision the boogeyman. The owner of both sits on a floating throne on a dead planet, floating through his dark spot of space as he imagines the his dream becoming a reality. "As soon as he falls asleep, we'll start molding him to our purposes. He will be a stepping stone to achieving our glorious, final goal."

"Master, the planet is near Yggdrasil, and you have already been warned to stay away or else the consequences would be dire…"

"You think I care of warnings and threats to me? They can try to banish me, but I will always return! Now leave me!" The disfigured minion slinks away quietly before his master can strike out at him, leaving him to his own devices, dreaming of the day he can finally please his dark lady.

"I will make you the ultimate offering, my lady, then you will finally find me worthy."


	15. A bit more plot plus practice

A week went by before Thranduil finally brought Cricket to his office to speak with her one on one. It was actually quite tactful of him, considering their history, and later she would be grateful for the time spent spending time with the two princes and Conner. There were no pressing matters, no jealous friends angry if she talked to another male, no hiding who she and Conner were, and no reminders of the handsome king who was more often on her mind then not, and the idea that there might actually be a chance for something to happen between the two of them.

Instead they spent their time, after a brief visit to the healer to check how well she had progressed, training to get her back to peak health and stamina, which progressed to her being able to spar again, albeit slowly at first. It was tiring at first, and Kili was horrible about treating her as if she was made of glass, but completely worth it the first time she was able to get the jump on him, knocking him on his ass, and Legolas saw an excited gleam light in her eyes that he hadn't seem since their first sparring session. After that none of them held back from one another, sometimes all three of them sparring at once against each other, and needing a bath every time when they were finally done. Conner would watch from the sidelines excitedly every time, sitting next to whatever elf happened to be there watching as well, often at times a red headed female named Tauriel who enjoyed the young dragons company and who was a friend of Legolas.

Speaking of Conner, she finally got to see him transformed, and couldn't have been prouder of him. He was enormous, scales a handsome blend of midnight blue, black and grey, with two slightly curved horns protruding from his head right above his ears, powerful wings on either side of him and dangerous claws on each foot. If it wasn't for the way he immediately began jumping around excitedly, tail wagging( and knocking over a tree accidently) as he brings his head down to look at her with the innocence of a puppy, one might of thought he was dangerous.

Well, more dangerous anyway.

"He's nearly fully grown in this form." Legolas had told her while Kili scratched the happy dragons underbelly. "He has maybe a couple more feet to go. Luckily one of the first things we worked on was controlling size, so he can actually go smaller if he needs to…just not larger."

"He's amazing." Cricket said softly, looking at her bonded dragon in pride. "I didn't think he would be quite this big, considering he's still so small in his other form."

"With dragons, age and size have nothing to do with one another, the exception being when they hatch. Most of the time they will stay in their large dragon form, though, for intimidation sake."

"I suppose that would come in handy when trying to hide, or fit through a tight area when flying."

"Exactly! As well, since we've been keeping a low profile when training, Conner stays slightly smaller when he and Kili practice flying. See, without you, Conner can use his chameleon technique on himself, but not any passengers, so it just looks like Kili is floating in thin air."

"They said something along those lines to me." Cricket said with a frown. "Would I just concentrate on the bond when he does it and hope it spreads to me? Can I pass it along to anyone else once it does?"

"As long as they other person is touching you, it should. Would you like to try?"

"Well duh, that's why we're here, right?" She says with a crooked grin, before turning to the playful dragon. "Conner, come ere! We're gonna try something out!"

Conner bounds over heavily, lowering his head down to her level and looking at her curiously. *What is it, what do you want to try? Flying? Do you wanna fly with me?"

"Haha, not quite yet." She chuckles, scratching gently around his snout. "I do wanna try that chameleon technique of yours though, so we can see if you can share it with me. Is that ok with you?"

*Sure!* He says happily, before closing his eyes, concentrating on the glowing bond. Cricket does as well so she can see what he touches on, seeing his inner self strum a particular chain surrounding the main bond, the chain vibrating and glowing as he does. Opening her eyes back up she contains a gasp as, even though she can still feel him, both her and Conner have vanished from sight, though if she moves her head to look at his previous location there is the barest shimmer, only visible if you're looking specifically for it. Looking at where her hand should be, it's the exact same way, as it blends perfectly with her surroundings. She looks down at the grass and dirt they're standing on, and notices an indention where Conners feet are.

"You can't see either of us, right?" She calls out to Kili and Legolas.

"Nope." Kili says with a grin, Legolas repeating the same. "Just a whole lot of nothing."

"Awesome! I wanna try something, hold on a bit." Closing her eyes once more she concentrates on the bond again, heading to the same glowing chain and looking at it for a brief moment before strumming it herself with a specific thought in mind. As it hums in agreement she opens up her eyes and smiles to see Conner shimmering back into view, as well as herself. "Is he still invisible to you guys?"

"Yes, why?"

"I touched on the part of the bond that controls his chameleon ability and focused on being able to see each other while like this. Basically, as long as we're both like this, we're the only ones who can see each other." Removing her hand and coming back into view to them both, she gives them a big smile. "One of you come over and put a hand on my shoulder, we'll see it I can share it with you." Legolas gives Kili the go ahead, and the dwarf prince comes over and grips her shoulder gently, before Cricket once again puts her hand on Conner. "Well?"

"It worked!" Legolas shouts excitedly, grin covering his face. "The moment you touched Conner, you both disappeared from view!" Kili grins back before realizing Legolas can't see it,, and Cricket lifts her hand off of Conner, revealing them both.

"That's a pretty handy trick there!" Cricket says, eyes shining. "Why don't you show me what else you can do?"

And so they did. That afternoon they showed Cricket every single thing he had learned so far, and every afternoon after that they would practice, seeing if her presence would affect them in any way, if they became stronger, or if his range would widen, doing before and after comparisons between the four of them. For the most part they stayed the same, other than the range of the fire, ice or steam that would be projected from his sacs depending on which one he used, and the speed it could be brought up and changed. The two biggest discoveries were that while riding him, she could shadow jump with him, and that while he rested on her skin and they concentrated on it, her skin would take on the impression of scales once more, her canines elongated, much like it did when they reconnected the bond. That part took a great deal of focus on their parts, however, and while it would come handy while fighting since most weapons couldn't pierce it without an extreme amount of force, they would have to train on actually keeping said focus in battle while simultaneously fighting. Conner could technically focus on it for her as long as she helped initiate it, but it wouldn't last as long due to the natural inclination of youth to be easily distracted.

Flying was her real joy, however. While similar to flying on the back of the Lord of Eagles, flying with Conner felt right, felt like something she was born to do. She hadn't yet flown without Fili or Legolas due to their worry she would overtire and fall off, but it was coming, whether they approved or not. There was just something freeing about soaring through the sky, the wind blowing through your hair, that made you feel like you had nothing in the world to worry about at all, even if it wasn't true.

Today was likely to be such a day. Cricket had been approached during lunch with a message from Thranduil saying he wanted to speak with her and Conner as soon as they were finished. Hesitant at first, her curiosity eventually got the better of her, and she agreed to follow the messenger back to his office after assuring the two princes she would be fine, and that she would meet them in the sparring grounds once she was done.

Which led to this strangely awkward scene, Thranduil sitting at an ornate, heavy duty redwood desk with Cricket across from him, Conner at her side, the silence almost deafening. Thranduil finally broke it by clearing his throat softly. "I heard your…concern, about whether or not I would take you unwillingly from where you were. I want to assure you I would never do such a thing. If the sight and reintroduction of Conner to you were not enough to jar your memories, I would have left you in peace, had you asked."

She arches an eyebrow at him disbelievingly, even Conner giving a tiny snort. "Even though it would cost you a full Dragon Knight and potential ally? The chance to trick me into marrying Legolas somehow? Somehow I find that hard to believe, especially if you went to that much trouble to find me."

"I admit, it would be extremely disheartening, I would have to respect your wishes. And if whatever blocked or erased your memories was that powerful, to block you and Conners bond, it would most likely do you harm for the memories to be forced back. I would hate to be the one to cause you that kind of harm."

There is a brief pause as she decides whether or not to believe the elf lord. "So….does that mean there is a way back to my world? That you were even thinking about going?"

"There are…other ways of travel, methods I have been thing about a great deal lately, and not just to retrieve you. The problem is, one of them, a mirror from my home, gets more unstable the more you use it, and there is a slight chance you could use it, but have no way back due to it cracking beyond repair. I hope to eventually use it to return to the place I came from, along with my son. The other I know of, Conners shadow jumping, is untested at best, and the only way to test it is to simply try. The problem with that method is that we have no idea how to choose a location and head towards it, and that you could possibly end up anywhere. There may simply be a way to do it through the bond, which makes anyone else useless."

"Great. So we might be able to travel that way, but there's no google map." Crocket mutters to herself, then looks at Conner. "How do you choose where to pop up when you shadow jump? This is your gift after all."

"I just kind of picture it in my head." Conner says with a brief shrug for the both of them. "I have an image of it in my mind as I jump through, and that image leads me to the right jump out point. It just feels right, I guess."

"So, do you think if I imagined a place, it would work the same way?"

"Perhaps." Thranduil leans back in his chair. "The only way to know it, like I said, to actually try it. If you do, however, start small, do not attempt to go home first try."

She rolls her eyes. "That's kinda obvious. Last thing I need to drop straight into a volcano, or deep enough in the ocean that the pressure kills us both. Baby steps."

"That's how I started." Conner adds in, and both look over at him. "Well, after I accidently did it while playing hide n seek." He says with a blush, Cricket smiling indulgently at him. "I didn't try and go anywhere I couldn't see in front of me until Legolas said it was ok to go further. Do…do you think we could start the same way?"

"You're the expert." She says with a grin, ruffling his hair before turning back to the elf lord. "So, was that the only reason you called us here? To assure me you weren't going to kidnap me? Because if so…"

"Unfortunately not." He says, and she sighs heavily, leaning back in her chair. "There were one or two other reasons. For example, I assume you'd be interested in finding out what kind of dragon Conner is?"

Those words cause her to sit up straight, immediately more invested in the conversation, even Conner looking more interested. "You've figured it out then? Of course we want to know! Spill already!"

He chuckles at her excitement, more emotion than she's used to seeing on his face. "As you wish. While you were gone, I looked heavily into my personal library, most of which comes from my home wor…my home before here. A great many of them went over training and power discovery, some copies of books the dragons themselves wrote, sharing with my family due to our bond position. You must know how rare that is, as dragons typically don't share their knowledge so freely, but Katla gave them to us. After investigating the powers he has shown so far, as well as his coloring, which narrows it down to four or five various types, I've come to the conclusion his parents were quite an odd pairing, which lends to my theory he should be able to world jump. The shadow jumping alone leads me to believe he is part Shadow, generally a sect that would stay on the neutral or dark side of things, but there have been exceptions. He also seems to be part Celestial, however, from his main coloring, as well as what happened when you came back together with him. Other than that he hasn't shown any other signs, but Celestial were apparently the most efficient at sharing their main form characteristics with their bond mate"

"So Celestial and Shadow?" Cricket says thoughtfully. "Sounds like one of those corny good and evil fell in love stories. Do all dragons have multiple types?"

"No. Generally they will mate within their own type, or if they share one similar type, that type will end up dominant. Every once in a while it would happen, however."

"You hear that Conner? You're special. Of course, I already knew that."

"Obviously." Thranduil says in a dry tone, to which she glares at. "The second thing is this. I know last time I might have…upset you by offering my sons hand in marriage. I always forget how easily hurt the feelings of Man can be, sometimes more so than a dwarf. I can assure you that was not my intention."

She narrows her eyes at him. "I'm sensing a but somewhere."

"You must realize that you will be receiving several offers at the feast, dragon knight or not. Simply being adopted into the Durin family will guarantee you to receive them."

"Yes, I've heard." She says, grinding her teeth, Conner looking on curiously. "I've also been told they won't try and force me into anything, so I'm not that worried about it."

"Well you should be." He says bluntly to her, gaining a surprised look. "They may have told you to shield yourself in clothes like armor, but that won't protect you from actual threats. Some of your would be suitors will go to great lengths to try and gain your hand in marriage, not limited to threats, physical violence and blackmail. Not only that, but I have heard disturbing things about how a certain heir to the throne has been acting. Jealousy makes people do crazy things, and his attraction to you has not gone unnoticed, if how he acted at the battle grounds were any indicator."

"What are you trying to say? That I should just say yes to someone anyway, because if I don't they'll try to force me? And I can't control how Fili acts or feels, all I can do is hope he calms the fuck down and doesn't freak out whenever a male comes close."

"What I'm trying to say it, for one, might not be completely the princes fault." He says placatingly as he notices her getting angry. "There is an unseen force that has been getting stronger these past few years, affecting the entire world. It gets into a persons head, making them feel all of their negative feelings even stronger than normal. It is preparing this world for something, but for what I cannot say. What I can say, is that when it finally arrives I will be glad to have a portal home. The only name I have at this point is Thanos." She frowns, opening her mouth, but before she can anything he continues. "As to the other, I think that you shouldn't as you put it just say yes to someone. It might be wise, however, to choose someone you trust and have them act as if they are already courting you. That way, if they try, you can say you are already spoken for."

"Someone like Legolas?"

"If you so wish. Legolas, or even perhaps the King of Dale would both likely be willing to help you. It is more believable if you already have a bond with that person, after all. Then, once you know for certain if you can travel back and forth, you can make a more permanent decision."

"I'll….think about it." She says, eyes still narrowed yet wheels turning in her head. "Are we good to leave now? Or is there more?"

"That's all." He says with a penetrating look. "Discuss what I've told you with the others if you wish to get a second opinion."

She nods curtly, standing up and heading towards the door with Conner. She stops, however, and turns slightly at the doorway. "This unseen force. Was it what drove Sauron to curse the dragons in the first place?"

"It likely played a part." He says quietly, eyes distant. "Around the same time he placed the curse, he was said to have found a small gem, shining like the arkenstone, and it made him more unstable in his moods and way of thinking, more violent. It's why I worried about for the dwarves to get their hands back on it, but Thorin was smart to bust it apart the way he did. Not only that, but the small shard he kept is embedded into a heavily spelled ring that wards him from any mental influence."

"Hopefully there are no more then." She says with a frown, then slowly smiles deviously. "Speaking of Thorin…say I flew off with Conner for a couple of days…would you do me a favor and not tell him? I plan on getting a surprise for him, and may have to convince said surprise to come in the first place."

He furrows his brow for a minute, then smirks as well as he gets her meaning. "I suppose I could do that. Are you healed enough to fly? And would you be going alone?"

"Yes and no. I thought me and Kili could head that way a couple of days before we're due back at the mountain on Conner, then come back here just in time to go back. I'm sure he would enjoy seeing the elves again anyway."

Thranduil laughs. "It is only fitting he attends the Truce signing I suppose, he is partially responsible for it happening in the first place. Go on, get the hobbit, if you leave early he can spend a couple days here before you leave for the mountain. Have Legolas pack you a travel bag for your journey."

"I already have a bag, but could use some food for it." She says, glad she decided to start keeping Antons bag on her once more, as well as packing her travel clothes. "We'll leave tomorrow morning for the Shire." With that she rushes out, excited to tell Kili their travel plans. Thranduil watches them leave, door closing of its own accord. He was glad she was taking his advice seriously about the upcoming feast, but wondered if it was wise of him to tell her briefly of Thanos and the threat he posed. He hadn't yet destroyed a world so close to their part of the universe, but knew it was coming with the way that the fake infinity shards kept being found it was coming.

Just hopefully the main nine worlds would find a way to block him, to banish him, before he could.


End file.
